Firstly, I watched the movie, only because one young friend, Ska advised me to and now, I would like to review it here, for my dear readers.
The poster sums up the movie – the three important characters!
Title : Mrs. Undercover
Director : Anushree Mehta
Made and Released in: March and April 2023 (apparently the movie was made in a month!)
QB watched on: April 2023
Streamed on Zee5
Review:
The movie starts with the death of a young lawyer, by the hands of a psychotic killer, whom we know as the Common Man (Sumeet Vyas). He also films the crime to let people know that he is on a killing spree! (Oh! And the movie is set in Kolkata and once I saw the heroine on the streets of Kolkata, I was immediately reminded of much loved Kolkata based movies like Kahaani and Piku, both movies with strong female protagonists. I already had high expectations from this movie!)
After the crimes against independent women by the Common Man (mentioned as CM for the rest of the post) keep getting out of hand and also the murder of undercover officer, there is a post to be filled, to catch the CM.
Enter Durga, the average house wife, who after years of inactivity (that is, inactive office life, but very active life as a house wife) is rusty. Chief Rangeela (Rajesh Sharma) tries desperately to recruit the ex-undercover officer into the case, but she is skeptical. I loved watching Chief Rageela. He also has the best lines in the movie, thanks to his character of being a gentleman, who understands a woman and knows how to encourage her.
The character of Durga is relatable, because, the once undercover agent, who is now a full time mom and who forgot she was an agent, is scared of walking alone at night or leaving behind the family to follow someone, without making a proper excuse.
Durga joins a woman empowerment workshop, to be able to follow one of her leads. (Here again, we get to see why a previous agent is now so scared. It is because of the husband, who doesn’t trust her skills and who never encourages her. ) Her husband is put in his place, by Durga’s mother in law, who teaches her son about being a good husband. This particular scene shows how much a good mother can influence her son.
Meanwhile, Durga’s husband has an affair with a neighbour, who happens to be an accomplice of the CM. Then again, we see the vulnerability of Durga, who is shattered. (I loathe the character of the hubby)
Spoilers aside, finally, Durga manages to find the bomb, de-activates it at the nick of the moment (How do all the important characters in different movies always find the correct wire to cut off, to stop bomb explosion?) and saves the day! Phew! I didn’t enjoy the climactic scenes. The supposedly bad villain takes a good beating from Durga, he takes the blows, one after the other, without hardly raising a hand to hurt Durga! What nonsense! A chauvinist letting a woman beat him to pulp and getting away with it?
It is a one woman show, through and through. The first half manages to make us smile once in a while. The CM, the villain doesn’t have a back story, except that he is a chauvinist, who hates women who are independent and brave. He even kills his own mom! In-spite of that, we hardly have any emotion to spare for him. I was neither scared of him nor loathe him. The CM character could have been shaped better, with better scope to perform. It is a very one dimensional character. Only with a powerful antagonist, can we see a powerful protagonist and that elevates the movie. Since there is neither of that in this movie, it remains an average fare.
Radhika Apte is a natural in this role. I also liked Rajesh Sharma as Chief Rangeela. It is a memorable one.
If you are a die hard fan of Radhika Apte, you can’t miss the movie, for her acting chops! If you have time to kill, go ahead and watch the movie. But it is not on par of Kahaani by Sujoy Ghosh and Piku by Shoojit Sircar!
P.S:
- I don’t know what it is, but movies based in Kolkata have a charm of their own!
- First half of the movie was promising, but the end was flat. I loved how simple and elegant Durga’s look was in the movie. Although the result is average, I commend the makers for trying something new. I hope they make a better sequel! Yes, the end was open!
- I don’t think I ever reviewed Kahaani and Piku. I will post them soon. They are the best!
- Incidentally, this is the only movie I have ever watched of Radhika Apte. Previously,I had watched the Netflix series, Choker Bali in 2017 (another Bengali connection! I think I have a thing for Bengal/Kolkata!). Interestingly, Radhika Apte and Sumeet Vyas play lovers in it!
I appreciate the style you present complex ideas in a simple and easy-to-grasp way.