Mimi | Not A Movie Review by Movie Insert | Kriti Sanon, Pankaj Tripathi | MOVIE INSERT

  A movie which Pankaj Tripathi can't even redeem is a movie I don’t particularlywant to talk about for long. Hey guys, my name is Sucharita.This is Film Companion, you're watching Not A Movie Review and right nowI’m not going to be reviewing Mimi. Mimi is a 25 year old dancer whodreams to be a Bollywood actor. Someone named Jolly bhaiya is clearly scammingher and asking for money, in return for music videos and a sea-facing apartment in Mumbai. Clearly, Mimi is not very world wise. Which is bizarre kyunki when strange men actuallyapproach her in person, her first survival instinct as a woman is to intimidate them. Which is great. Anywho, Mimi meets Bhanu, a taxi driver,who introduces her to an American couple, who are inexplicably roaming in Indiafor a year looking for a surrogate mother. For real, if there was a reason this film providedfor this hunt happening exclusively in India, and why it starts in 2013,I completely missed it. They offer Mimi 20 lakhs to carry their child,she agrees to be the surrogate, only to have the couple flee on her during the pregnancy. All of this, and more,was in the trailer, btw. Kriti Sanon clearly has tried with all her might. She’s got the dance moves, the crying eyes,the weight gain, the angry outbursts, and an impressive acting performance, (barring aninconsistent accent) but the material around her is just so sparse and basic, I doubt evenVidya Balan could have salvaged it. Yes, Vidya Balan is kind of the epitomeof uplifting material given to her. Mimi’s parents, played by Manoj Pahwa andSupriya Pathak are shown to be borderline stupid,  easily believing her far-fetched tales,oopar se also dramatically bigoted, too unlikeable for anyone to root for them. Pankaj Tripathi as Bhanu brings the jokes,but the punchlines just never quite land. Sai Tamhankar, a talented, gifted actor, isreduced to a Muslim best friend sidekick, who has no arc or plot line of her own, except,yeh bachcha mujhe de dena, main paal loongi, I guess Director Laxman Utekar has co-written this moviewith Rohan Shankar, adapted from a Marathi film. The writing clearly only has a surface levelunderstand of surrogacy, and adoption, and little to no interest in actually exploringwomen, and the psyche of people who would go to any extent to havea child of their own. People don’t just happen to drive past anorphanage and select the first child they spot. Also Atithi Devo Bhava is strong, too strong with this one. The white couple, who decide they don’t wantthe child anymore right, which you’ll find out why when you watch the film, are OBVIOUSLY evil,self-centered, entitled bad Americans. The worst kind. But when the writing goes outof its way to redeem them,  it's not treated as dark and disturbing,rather sweet and frivolous. Frankly, mind boggling. Things like self-harm, disability - they're justthrown around, without any actual exploration of what these do to people and relationships. The writing severely lacks depth & empathyrequired to tackle, with humor and comedy, serious issues which the film attempts to. If you want to see how grievously insincere Mimithe movie is, take a look at the very odd music album,  composed by AR Rahman, songswritten by Amitabh Bhattacharya. From Param Sundari to Hormonal Jwalamukhito songs about little sparrows,  it’s a desperate attempt at tugging atyour heartstrings, which eventually is just lost. So on a scale of 1 to 10,Mimi is 4 or 3 days ahead of schedule. I'm sure there is some puns to be made here,but I'm in a rush to stop talking about this film. Subscribe to Film Companion!