In 2021, we had Laxman Utekar’s Mimi, which delved into the issue of surrogacy. To avoid the pitfall of being ‘message,’ the director intermixed it with a typical Bollywood synthesis of humour, songs, and some glamour.
So, we ended up with a social story that got a bit lost in translation. But overall, Mimi managed to stay entertaining thanks to some spirited acting and the Rajasthani ethos pervading the screen.
Lyricists turned directors Siddharth Singh and Garima Wahal’s Dukaan traverse the same path, except that here, it is all Gujarati vibes. Yet, Dukaan offers neither the fun nor the engagement with a larger issue. And that is because Dukaan doesn’t make up its mind as to what it wants to be. Movies dealing with heavy themes need not be solemn. But the underpinning of humour and mirth must not be distracting or silly. Unfortunately, that is where Dukaan slips.
While the idea of sending a strong message about motherhood is conceptually great, the delivery is largely faulty.
The Good
- Notable intentions
- Monika Pawar is spirited
The Bad
- Shallow writing
- Lack of coherence
- Poor delivery
Set in the backdrop of Anand in Gujarat, the story is about the blithe-spirited Chameli, Jasmine Patel (Monika Panwar). She is a force of nature in a sense, doing things in her impetuous way.
She is against kids because of an unhappy event in her family. She runs into Sumer (Sikandar Kher), who runs a small shop. He is a widower with two kids. Chameli marries him, much to her mother’s dislike (Himani Shivpuri). Chameli likes to live on her terms, so when Sumer passes away, she still puts on a brave front.
But when trying to make ends meet, she gets to know about the surrogacy trade in which motherhood becomes all mercenary. With the help of the doctor Navya Chandel (Geetika Tyagi), Chameli gets into the thick of it. But things take an emotional turn when she carries the child of Diya (Monali Thakur) and Armaan (Soham Majumdar). Like in Mimi, the baby becomes the bone of contention.
The issue plays out longer than it needs to be, and in the end, all is well. But by that time, your interest and patience are both tested. Monika Pawar as the lead is spunky. She is full of beans, as the character demands, but beyond her effervescence, there is hardly anything to her character. The rest of the characters are written with even more shallowness. None of them has any meaningful screentime to register anything of note.
However, the directors, who are well-known lyricists, know how to get the atmospherics right. Vibrant Gujarati fervour fills the screen, and the duo have a natural feel for music, which shows in the interludes. But the writing is all over the place, and nothing comes through organically.
The idea of conveying a strong message on motherhood through independent-minded women is great in conception. But its delivery is faulty. A film on surrogacy should not botch up, well, the delivery.