Mummy Punjabi, English Bollywood Film Review, Johnson Thomas

English Film ReviewJohnson Thomas

Mummy Mummy Modern Dread!Film: Mummy PunjabiCast: Kiron Kher,Kanwaljeet Singh, Jackie Shroff, Viraf Patel, DivyaDuttaDirector: Pammi SonalRating: *Veteran journalist Pammi Sonal’s directorial debut is more like a TV sitcom than a film. The Mummy(Kiron Kher) here, is a modern one juxtaposed against a old-fashioned male dominated Punjabi household consisting of a husband and three adult children. Her husband(Kanwaljeet Singh) is so traditional that he doesn’t even have her name added to the family bank account. So that’s something she nags him about. She also calls her straight-jacketed husband boring and flirts openly with an ex-flame Mannu(Jackie Shroff).. Her sons lives are under her strict supervision but her daughter ‘s is another matter.. She wants her two sons married and settled in life so she opts for a traditional Indian girl for one and an NRI doctor for another. But the bahus(read daughter-in-laws) don’t turn out what they professed to be and Mummyji does a lot of wailing and crying on the fragile shoulders of her naid, Munniya(Divya Dutta). It’s heightened melodrama from there on. The script is basically best suited for a TV soap where the kind of exaggerated over simplification of family life can feel very much at home. The performances are loud, the comedy is kitschy and the dialogues in English sound pretty alien. This is really not a true measure of what a punjabi household looks like. There are plenty of contrivances and clichés involved despite the fact that the whole set-up aims for an ultra-modern-traditional mix. It’s quite ridiculous to see the bickering and the obviously manipulative snafus in the relationships that are shown as going awry. Kiron Kher in the lead role is hysterically vacuous.The rest of the cast don't even register . There is nothing appealing in this dreadful bore of film!Johnsont307@gmail.com