Mimi (2021 Hindi film)

Mimi
Official release poster
Directed by	Laxman Utekar
Written by	Laxman Utekar Rohan Shankar Dialogues: Rohan Shankar
Screenplay by	Laxman Utekar Rohan Shankar
Based on	Mala Aai Vhhaychy! by Samruddhi Porey
Produced by	Dinesh Vijan Jio Studios
Starring	Kriti Sanon Pankaj Tripathi Sai Tamhankar
Cinematography	Akash Agarwal
Edited by	Manish Pradhan
Music by	A. R. Rahman
Production companies	Maddock Films Jio Studios
Distributed by	JioCinema Netflix
Release date	26 July 2021 (2021-07-26)
Running time	133 minutes[1]
Country	India
Language	Hindi

Mimi is a 2021 Indian Hindi-language comedy-drama film written and directed by Laxman Utekar and co-written by Rohan Shankar, which is a remake of the Marathi film Mala Aai Vhhaychy! (2011) by Samruddhi Porey. Jointly produced by Dinesh Vijan under his banner Maddock Films and Jio Studios. The film stars Kriti Sanon in the titular role of Mimi, a young woman who opts to be a surrogate mother for a foreign couple.

The film also features Pankaj Tripathi, Sai Tamhankar, Manoj Pahwa, Supriya Pathak, Evelyn Edwards and Aidan Whytock in supporting roles.

The film was shot predominantly in Mandawa, Churu and Jaipur, barring a few days in Mumbai. The score and soundtrack were composed by A. R. Rahman, with lyrics by Amitabh Bhattacharya; cinematography and editing were respectively handled by Akash Agarwal, Manish Pradhan.

Following the non-existent theatrical releases due to COVID-19 pandemic, the film was later planned for a digital release through the streaming services Netflix and JioCinema, with the scheduled date of 30 July 2021. However, the film was released through the platforms on 26 July 2021, four days before the scheduled release as the film was released accidentally by Jio Cinema and went into torrent sites.^[2] The film received mixed reviews from the film critics, who praised Sanon and Tripathi's performance, with many stating the role as the career best performance of Sanon but criticized the film for its contrived plot.^[3]

Plot[]

John and Summer are an American couple who cannot conceive, and are visiting Rajasthan in search of a surrogate mother. They come across Mimi, a local dancer and feel that she would be the perfect surrogate mother for their child. They convince local taxi driver Bhanu to recruit Mimi to be their surrogate, with the promise of ₹20 lakh (US$28,000). Mimi, who has aspirations of stardom in Bollywood but does not have the financial means required to chase her dreams, agrees after initial hesitation. The IVF procedure is successful and Mimi becomes pregnant. In order to hide the pregnancy from her parents, Mimi lies and tells them that she is going to Mumbai for 9 months for the shoot of a film. She starts living with her friend Shama. Bhanu is asked by John and Summer to take care of Mimi while she is pregnant.

A few weeks later, a routine check up reveals that Mimi's unborn child has Down Syndrome. This news devastates John and Summer and they abruptly leave for America telling Bhanu that they don't want the baby anymore and suggest Mimi to abort it. Upon learning about this, Mimi is disheartened but rejects the idea of abortion and decides to carry the child to term. Mimi, who is now visibly pregnant, returns home and lies that the child belongs to Bhanu when asked about the father of the baby. This causes its own set of problems, as Bhanu has a wife in Delhi who hasn't seen him for months. When she and Bhanu's mother show up in Rajasthan at Mimi's home, chaos and confusion ensues. Eventually, Mimi comes clean about the surrogacy and her unborn child is accepted by her parents and family.

Mimi gives birth to a healthy boy named Raj, revealing that the earlier test result was a false positive. She becomes deeply attached to Raj and puts her Bollywood aspirations on hold to take care of him. Shama and Bhanu continue to be a major part of Raj's life as he grows up in Mimi's home, doted upon by Mimi's parents. However, four years later, John and Summer return to India after seeing a video of Mimi and Raj online. They tell Mimi that they've changed their minds about the baby and want to take Raj back to America. Mimi confronts Summer and saying that Raj is her child now and she won't give him back but John threatens legal action as Mimi had signed a contract for surrogacy and has no legal right over Raj as long as she was paid for her services. Bhanu and Mimi's parents prepare to fight it out in court, but Mimi rejects this notion and decides to give Raj back to John and Summer as she doesn't want Raj to face the struggle of court cases. On the day of John and Summer's flight back to America; Mimi, Bhanu, and family meet them the couple to send Raj off with them, but are surprised to see John with a child, whom Summer claims as their daughter. It is then revealed that while coming back from Mimi's house, the couple came across an orphanage and felt a connection with Tara, who they saw crying from behind the orphan gate, and decided to adopt her. Summer explains how after seeing Mimi with Raj, she realized that parenthood has nothing to do with blood but everything to do with love and care. They leave Raj with Mimi and family, recognizing that he is her son in every practical sense and belongs to her.

Cast[]

Production[]

Development[]

In April 2019, The Times of India reported that Kriti Sanon will lead in a film that will revolve around surrogacy.^[4] Dinesh Vijan's production house Maddock Films was reported to back the project. The film was officially announced in August 2019 followed by a poster release and Sanon and Pankaj Tripathi were reported to feature in lead roles. It was further confirmed to be based on the Marathi film Mala Aai Vhhayachy (2011).^[5] In an interview with India Today, Dinesh Vijan stated that Mimi was a tale based on true events unlike poignant stories. For him, the film explores a beautiful relationship between a woman who never wanted to be a mother and one who can't wait to be one.^[6] The unexpected part was called "humor" in storyline by him. Sanon added: "You will have a lot of humour and situational humour. At the same time, there are a lot of characters you will take back home."^[7] For Sanon, Mimi was the film which she signed hearing the idea but not the script. Later, realising that the role has a lot to offer to her as an actor.^[8] She gained fifteen kilograms of body weight to fit into the character of a pregnant woman.^[5] In an interview with Hindustan Times, she was quoted: "We had to shoot the pregnancy scenes and Laxman Sir was very clear that it was necessary to gain weight for those scenes because he didn’t want the character to have a chiseled face".^[5] Actress Sai Tamhankar was roped into playing a pivotal character in the film, sharing screen with Tripathi.^[9] She was reported to play a Muslim woman from Rajasthan, hence learnt Urdu as well as the Rajasthani dialect for her role.^[10]

Filming[]

Principal photography commenced at Mandawa, Rajasthan by 29 October 2019.^[11][12] In an interview with Filmfare, Sanon confirmed it to be her first film where the protagonist is a girl.^[13] By December 2019, the team had completed 40% of the film's production.^[14] The next filming schedule was planned from February 2020 for 30–40 days.^[15] Filming took place in Jaipur on 10 February 2020,^[16] where makers finished shooting major sequences within 4 March 2020.^[17][18] Reportedly, a few days filming was stalled due to COVID-19 pandemic induced lockdown in India. In June 2020, Utekar confirmed that five days shoot was pending which included an introductory song featuring artists from United Kingdom.^[5] The song (later deciphered as "Param Sundari") was planned to be filmed by January 2021. He added that owing to the pandemic situations, big crew and cast traveling back to Rajasthan was not feasible. The international cast was called to Mumbai for the shoot as they were required for the continuity of the film.^[19] By May 2021, it was revealed that the entire shooting process has been completed.^[20]

Soundtrack[]

The original score and soundtrack were composed by A. R. Rahman and featured lyrics written by Amitabh Bhattacharya.^[22] Vipin Nair of Music Aloud wrote in its review that "the soundtrack had fairly low expectations, but it had thrown up a surprise with a very diverse and engaging set of songs" and gave 3.5 out of 5.^[23] A critic from The Humming Heart gave a score 8 (out of 10) and said "Mimi may not be a top-shelf Hindi mainstream soundtrack of AR Rahman. But, this is a lovely low-key album with tunes that might pay off with revisits in the years to come."^[24]

Release[]

Producer Dinesh Vijan had planned for a theatrical release in March 2021 after his production Roohi, which was the first mainstream Hindi film to have a theatrical release post COVID-19 pandemic.^[25] However, following the nationwide lockdown due to rise in COVID-19 cases and the second wave of the pandemic, the makers planned for a digital release in May 2021.^[25][26] The film was distributed worldwide by Netflix^[27] and JioCinema (the digital platform for Jio Studios, which co-produced the film) additionally distributed the film in India, with a scheduled release date of 30 July 2021.^[28][29] However, four days before the release, the platform JioCinema released the film earlier for few minutes on 26 July 2021, and resulted in online piracy as it was made available for torrent sites and illegal movie streaming platforms.^[30][31] To counter piracy, both Netflix and JioCinema premiered the film on the same date instead of 30 July.^[32]

Reception[]

Upon release, Mimi received mixed reviews from the film critics, who praised Sanon and Tripathi's performance but criticized the film for its contrived plot.^[3] On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film currently holds a rating of 18% based on 11 reviews and an average rating of 4.5/10.^[33] Renuka Vyahare of The Times of India gave 4 (out of 5) stars and said "Mimi picks a relevant topic and turns it into an engaging, empowering and compassionate tale on humanity and motherhood".^[34] Taran Adarsh, in his review for Bollywood Hungama, wrote "Mimi is a heartwarming saga, aimed at families and it will keep the audience thoroughly entertained. Had it released in cinemas, it had a good chance of becoming a success", giving a rating of 3.5 stars out of five.^[35] Umesh Punwani of Koimoi gave 4 out of 5 and said "Mimi is a delightful blend of humour and emotions".^[36] Sushri Sahu of Mashable India too gave 3.5 stars describing the film as an "feel-good family entertainer" and wrote, "Mimi is a family entertainer that might make you cry, laugh and smile all at the same time; If you’re into that, you will enjoy Mimi, which is enriched by Sanon and Tripathi’s performances". Calling Sanon's performance in Mimi her career-best she further wrote, "Sanon has outdone herself. In fact, as you see her shoulder the film with her craft, you will also see her deliver her career best performance; Mimi is Sanon’s labour of love all the way".^[37] Anupama Chopra of Film Companion wrote "Mimi is content to operate at a simplistic, superficial level. Laxman puts together a roster of terrific actors, but Mimi rests on Kriti’s shoulders. She also works hard – putting on weight, working with a Rajasthani accent. In the climax, she is able to summon a wellspring of emotion but largely, her efforts are undermined by the script and her own inability to let go of synthetic Bollywood glamour."^[38] Jyoti Kanyal of India Today gave 2.5 (out of 5) and said "Mimi is a great attempt at bringing a social taboo like surrogacy to the centre stage. However, in trying to make it more entertaining and emotional, the makers lose a good opportunity. The film has some really funny scenes, and if melodrama is something you don't mind, you should definitely give Mimi one watch".^[39] Anna M. M. Vetticad of Firstpost gave 1.5 (out of 5) saying "Writer-director Laxman Utekar’s new Hindi film is a muddled take on motherhood with clarity only on its conservative mission to condemn abortion. If it had been better written and directed, Mimi might have been considered dangerous anti-women propaganda. To describe it thus would be a compliment though to the director’s storytelling abilities".^[40]

References[]

External links[]

• Mimi at IMDb
• Mimi at Bollywood Hungama