| Movie Name | MOM |
| Movie Cast | Sridevi,Nawazuddin Siddiqui,Akshaye Khanna,Adnan Siddiqui,Sajal Ali |
| Director | Ravi Udyawar |
| Music Director | AR Rahman |
| Production Company | Boney Kapoor |
| Release Date | July 7, 2017 |
Though Sridevi made a comeback 5 years ago with an outstanding performance in English Vinglish, she didn’t strike when the iron was hot. But this yesteryear actor’s talent probably doesn’t need to depend on her time. It’s proved through MOM, that she is indeed a wonderful actor with talent in abundance.
Directed by Ravi Udyawar, MOM is a thriller cum drama based on the relationship between a (step)Mom and her daughter. Devaki (Sridevi) is a biology teacher with two daughters.The family is well-off. Aarya (Sajal Ali) is an 18yr who also studies in the same school. She prefers to call Devaki ma’am than mom. Devaki, however doesn’t differentiate between step daughter and the own. She is as worried and caring. Aarya leaves for a Valentine’s party. She ends up being raped and thrown in a gutter. How Devaki finds justice and cures her daughter is the rest of the film about.
The story is partly familiar and reminding majorly of No One killed Jessica. Nevertheless, this is more of a vengeance story than a fight for justice with the law. The problem with the film is it gets too obvious in some situations. The thrill element get missing after the first hour. The graph falls down for an hour and comes back into form only in the last 45 minutes. Two and a half hours seemed long keeping the content in mind. There are no twists either. The screenplay is slightly old-fashioned too.
Accolades to Sridevi, for performing so naturally with such a believability. The scene where she breaks down in ICU is just top of the world. She maintains consistency throughout. The next person to grab our attention was Nawazuddin Siddiqui. His screen presence is mesmerizing as usual. The overtly done makeup and some unnecessary mannerism could have been avoided. Sajal Ali is first rate and she is on par with Sridevi in the first half an hour of the film. Adnan Siddiqui and Akshaye Khanna were decent. Abhimanyu Singh excels as a menace and gives a relief in the monotonous flow.His criminal body language is convincingly scary.
The background score is pathetic, and the music sounded nowhere close to the standards of A.R.Rahman. Probably, there are his worst tracks in his whole career.
The movie rides majorly on Sridevi’s performance and a good ensemble. A tighter screenplay could have helped the movie much more.
Overall, MOM definitely deserves a watch, especially if you are looking for more emotion and less a thriller.
Three for the movie and extra half for Sridevi’s MOM act.
