Starring Kriti Sanon and Pankaj Tripathi in the lead, Mimi is a remake of the Marathi film ‘Mala Aai Vhaychay’. Now lets not talk about the plot because the trailer has done enough damage there. So jumping straight to the good and bad of it.
Analysis
Lets get one thing straight, the plot is based on a serious subject, but the tone is quirky, hence logic is out of the window and emotions are high. You’ll get the laughs in the beginning and the melodrama for the rest of the runtime. Beyond the central subject the film attempts to comment on a string of other stigmas like abortion, adoption, suicide and more but superficially. Surrogacy itself being such a complex subject, I wish they had stuck to one problem instead of ticking off a checklist of social issues.
Performances
Kriti Sanon as MiMi is undoubtedly exceptional. If this doesn’t get her scripts with strong female characters, I don’t know what will. As for Pankaj Tripathi, he is at his usual best, but he has a type now, and it almost feels like he can sleepwalk through such roles. The relationship between these characters is interesting , but its sad that it doesn’t get explored to its true potential. Infact I liked their chemistry way more in Bareily ki Barfi.
As for the supporting cast, all characters are written without little or no interest. The parents are mostly seen nodding their heads in the background, with negligible protest to any of Mimi’s life updates. The Muslim best friend gets to mention her sob story a couple of times which goes without any acknowledgement even from her own bff. The American couple also remains mostly caricaturish. Good actors have been cast for these roles, but they are criminally underutilized.
There have been movies made on similar subject, but none of them can be called a commercial success. So I get how the director might have felt the need to Bollywoodize the whole thing to reach a wider audience. And he does it quite effectively with the elements of a commercial entertainer in place but in exchange there is compromise on staying authentic and honest to the subject.
Cutting Verdict
Mimi is an emotional roller coaster with some solid performances and it might entertain you as well, but if it had any intention to normalize or educate about surrogacy, that point is lost in the chaos. With a tighter script and some believability to the characters and their actions, Mimi could have been impactful.
Going with 2.5/5
