Mimi Movie Review: The odd pairing of Kriti Sanon-Pankaj Tripathi is equal parts funny and sensitive
Netflix surprised the audience when Mimi was released four days ahead of its release. Kriti Sanon stars in the titular character, who wants to be a Bollywood superstar. She fantasies to star opposite Ranveer Singh and has Kareena Kapoor Khan, Deepika Padukone and Katrina Kaif's posters stuck to her wall. But before she gives these actresses a run for their money, she has to go to Mumbai, which obviously needs money.
While she's slowly making her way by dancing in tourist clubs, she sees a quick way to speed up her train to Mumbai after being offered to be a surrogate mother. Mimi is not open to the idea at first, but Rs 20 lakh and the support of her friends makes her take the 'deal'. What follows is a humorous drama that takes a sharp turn when the biological parents refuse to take the baby.
The story of an ambitious girl from a small town of Rajasthan is compelling, comic and sensitive but not real. Mimi's dilemmas seem like a slice of life but her way out of them is far from it. We see her going through massive life-altering chaos but she deals with it too optimistically. Imagine being accepted by the parents, neighbours and relatives in a blink of an eye when you reach their doorstep unannounced with no father, marriage and a big fat lie. But of course, creative liberty.
It is Kriti Sanon and Pankaj Tripathi that keep up the anticipation of this flawed plot by surprising us with their genuine performances. Tripathi is a wonder on screen, he's proved that more than often but Sanon is a surprise package. Watching the actress in films like Raabta, Arjun Patiala and Housefull 4, it is kind of hard to imagine her stepping into a role like that of Mimi. We have seen Sanon as a small town ambitious girl, in Lukka Chuppi and Bareilly Ki Barfi, but watching her being a sensitive mother is a first. She has a hold of her character and makes you feel for her. Her unsettling doubts and withering passion are right at your face.
Clearly, this is one of Sanon's best to date. Mimi can be taken into account as a film that will make filmmakers and the audience see Sanon as an actor who can carry a film alone on her shoulders. She has matured as a performer and Tripathi as Bhanu only accentuates it. He oscillates between privilege and poverty with ease and his comic timing can be lauded once again. Apart from these, actors like Manoj Pahwa, Supriya Pathak and Sai Tamhankar have little to contribute but they do it well.
With AR Rahman's soulful music and a bunch of talented star cast, Mimi is a family entertainment package. The credit for making Mimi acceptable also goes to director Laxman Utekar. He wins at adapting the Marathi original Mala Aai Vhhaychy! (2011) and giving it an original flavour with Rohan Shankar. His setting, characters and subtle take on topics like Triple Talak, abortion, religious diversity and feminine objectivity doesn't go unnoticed. It smartly picks relevant topics and turns them into an engaging and delightful anecdote on humanity and motherhood. Although it never rises above it. The film gets stuck in stereotypes. A woman giving up on her career after delivering a kid is too passe in 2021.
In all, Mimi is a well-intentioned, feel-good and sympathetic take on surrogacy, which also talks about its repercussions. It tries to steer people to adoption too but its bucolic appearance can add to the cesspool of fallacious facts about surrogacy and adoption. It's a film you watch for entertainment, not something you take lessons from.