Sui Dhaaga: Made In India - Reviews & BO Updates - Page 7

No overblown drama, no weepy speech, Sui Dhaaga's sunshine spirit and throwaway nok jhonk pervades the uncertainty and exploitation, feels Sukanya Verma.

Anushka Sharma's contorted, crying face became the subject of wholehearted parody in a series of viral memes. But the same scene left me in tears on watching Sui Dhaaga: Made In India.

In the movie, it is a moment of minor triumph for a husband and wife in the throes of desperation and despair.

For that brief instant, nobody except the two recognise the value of an opportunity almost lost and no World Cup can seem as precious as an arduously won sewing machine.

Writer and director Sharat Katariya's new drama delivers reality, its beauty and bites with a touch of humour, warmth and purpose in the tradition of Dum Laga Ke Haisha.

In Sui Dhaaga too, household bustle and familial tiffs form the core of a joint family of limited means.

Somewhere in Madhya Pradesh resides an elderly couple whose one half (Raghuvir Yadav) is a cantankerous old man coming down hard on the compliant son and the other (Yamini Dass) is a nurturing homemaker so consumed by her daily chores they have become her sole identity.

'Pateela lekar maregi?' inquires her irate husband when she collapses in the kitchen, still tightly holding on to the panhandle even after what seems to be a mild heart attack.

The younger couple in the house -- son Mauji (Varun Dhawan) and his significant other Mamta (Anushka Sharma) have forgotten what it feels like to be a couple in their fulfillment of domestic duties.

When Mauji, a tailor by lineage relegated to a minion in a sewing machines shop, alters Mamta's blouse for a family function, a shy smile lights her face.

It is the closest thing to a touch.

Mauji is the sort of person who agrees to belittling antics just to please the bosses.

He is half convinced it is entertaining too.

'Sab badhiya hai', he insists in the ironic tone of 'Brutus is an honourable man'. It is not.

Taken for a pushover and butt of ridicule by everyone around him, it is only after Mamta voices her hurt over the humiliation that the seeds of self-respect are sown.

Self-employment appears to be the key.

Except small-town aspirations are often weighed down by a constant need for survival.

With financial challenges and unmasked exploitation obstructing their path at every juncture, professional autonomy is hard to come by.

The focus isn't so much on Mauji's craft as his struggle for better life as well as Mamta's support and guidance in empowering their vision.

Katariya goes for a beloved movie trope where triumph of spirit and contests go hand in hand.

Sui Dhaaga advances from the marriage of industrious minds to a Lagaan of the sartorial world.

Within its feel-good fervour, Sui Dhaaga touches on the difficulties of grass root labour -- the tribulations, rotten deals and measly remuneration reserved for their hardworking hands and engrossed eyes even as so-called ethically conscious designers steal credit and design.

Step beyond the elegance of their fancy boutiques and steeply priced sustainable fashion, the woeful state of the artists and weavers across India is as telling as their handiwork.

Despite scenes of misplaced feminism and celebration of underdogs, body types and social classes, Sui Dhaaga is not looking to make villains out of anyone.

Instead, Katariya dodges cynicism, endorses reconciliation and views self-seeking folk as products of disappointment and disgruntlement.

No overblown drama, no weepy speech, Sui Dhaaga's sunshine spirit and throwaway nok jhonk pervades the uncertainty and exploitation.

Some of it is simplistic, some sentimental.

Often earnest displays of goodwill and spirit compensates for its arguable breakthroughs.

But Mauji and Mamta are such genuine souls -- a protective feeling is spontaneously elicited for the duo and their well being. No better feeling than crying and laughing along with the characters on screen.

Varun Dhawan and Anushka Sharma portray the world of Sui Dhaaga with a gentleness that turns everything it touches into gold.

They play out a marriage coming into its own in such delicate hues, to review their performance as anything but combined would be unjust.

An actor for all seasons, Raghuvir Yadav shines as the sceptic father haunted by his own failures.

Watching him on the ramp is one of Sui Dhaaga's truly heart melting moments.

As his zinger-ready wife, Yamini Dass carps on how they'd be better off if he'd glug down a bottle of alcohol through three days instead of downing two packets of milk in one.

She is a winner.

So is this film.

#moviereview #suidhaaga One Of The Best Film Of the year. Sweet, Simple & Family entertainer.. Dialogues Are Superb..Music is good..Main part is Story..which is Awesome.. & Direction & performances Are Heartwinning.. & The One megical line "Sab Badhiya Hai".. Rating - 4.0/5

Film: Sui Dhaga - Made In India (Comedy-Drama-Romance)

Critic's Rating: 3/5

Cast: Varun Dhawan, Anushka Sharma, Raghubir Yadav

Direction: Sharat Katariya

Duration: 2 hours, 02 minutes

Language: Hindi (U)

Story:

Based on the Make In India campaign launched by our government in 2014, Sui Dhaaga - Made In India salutes the spirit of middle-class pride and self-reliance. Mauji (Varun Dhawan), a proficient tailor, lives in Chanderi, Madhya Pradesh, with his family. He works at a cloth store, but he dreams of owning his own garment business. His simplicity and winning nature are taken for granted by most and it's his newly-married wife Mamta (Anushka Sharma), who encourages him to chase the rainbow.

Review:

Self-reliance is a great thing. Taking pride in everything that India does well is also a very good thing. However, to give an unsuspecting audience a drab run of everyday issues faced by the lower middle-class in the heartland of India is not necessarily entertainment. So, actually, the marketing pitch of Sui Dhaaga is wrong. If you sold this to us as a find-your-feet campaign, it works. However, to say it will entertain along with enlighten is rubbish.

You have a National-Award winning talent (Dum Laga Ke Haisha) at hand. You have two superstars (Varun and Anushka), who want to appease their conscience by doing middle-of-the-road cinema. So, you find a script on how, despite all odds -- lack of water, sanitation, cheats and challenges -- India still manages to write her own story of victory. You use this backdrop and pepper it with the small-town dream of making it "on your own".

Next, you intrinsically weave all this into the mundane existence of live-wire Mauji and his lustreless wife Mamta. Frankly, this is clever but till intermission point, the result is plain boring. Babuji (Raghubir Yadav in superlative form) and Amma, with her imaginary ills keep taking off on their 'black sheep' son Mauji without provocation. To make matters worse, Mamta prefers to make chappatis rather than consummate her marriage. So there isn't even a whiff of romance. Just imagine having two mainstream actors and not even giving them some mastiwala magical moments.

The script that attempts to expose the ills of an impoverished life in India's heartland is routine. The problems have been seen by us in countless films previously and in Government documentaries. While one must say that the dialogue is witty and Varun Dhawan is outstanding, everything else has the "been-there-seen-that" dj vu quality.

Also, the all-trusting naivete shown by Varun and Anushka, who play small-town people, is not fully convincing. Pronouncing a couple of words with a particular Hindi accent and looking wide-eyed doesn't add up. Yet, Varun manages to be this spunky tiger who is determined to stand out amidst the sheep. His incandescence helps blind out some of his inadequacies. Anushka's simplicity shines through but her role has no depth.

The script is immature and loose. There are no surprises in the plot. That Mamta and Mauji will suffer all ills and emerge victorious on the right platform is a foregone conclusion. So, why even make this two-hour long story to tell us what could have been said in a 20-minute public service commission film?

The thing about films like Sui Dhaaga, Padman, Toilet: Ek Prem Katha and Batti Gul Meter Chalu is that mainstream actors suddenly feel the need to awaken India. And they set off in the direction of the big daddy who will back their dreams. Whether India becomes self-reliant or not, we have no clue. But yes, the actors have taken their shot at posterity. One definitely applauds their effort, but cinema's thumb rule is that you need to entertain.

Verdict:

Sui Dhaaga has a spirited Varun and some truly witty dialogue. You can toss a coin and decide whether or not to watch it for this young actor, who carries the burden of this mediocre film with his never-say-die spirit.

❤️Damn I want this to work for this guy, kya yaar😆