Starring: Sakshi Tanwar, Wamiqa Gabbi, Prashant Narayanan, Raima Sen, Vivek Mushran
When Bollywood is not producing three-hour-long love stories, they are making some pretty good dramas. Following the success of Sacred Games, Netflix comes out with a new original, Mai: A Mother’s Rage.
The limited series is simply known as Mai (Mother). Mai is one of those shows that makes an impression as soon as you see the trailer.
Mai is the story of a middle-class mother, Sheel Chaudhary. Sheel witnesses her daughter being struck by a truck in the middle of the street.
During the trial, the bus driver apologises to Sheel telling her he did not want to do it but he was forced.
Sheel senses that there is more to her daughter’s death; she believes it was not an accident. Slowly Sheel investigates by following around people, she finds out that the truck driver’s family is well taken care of by Jawahar Vyas, a local don.
As it turns out, Sheel is Jawahar’s mother’s nurse at the old age home. Sheel lures Jawahar to the home in the middle of the night to question him.
Unbeknownst to her, Jawahar has a heart condition and the sedative Sheel administers ends up killing him. Sheel finds herself in a disastrous situation but her determination to find out the truth about her daughter’s murder keeps her going.
To find answers, Sheel must infiltrate a dangerous crime ring, think like a criminal and outsmart them in order to save herself. She must embrace cruelty and crime to find the truth.
The show is wonderfully scripted and moves at a steady pace, which is often Bollywood’s weakness. There is plenty of suspense, twists and secrets to keep viewers engrossed for the six episodes.
The performances given by everyone are exceptionally good. You can tell from each scene that the cast is working well together to create this masterpiece.
Sakshi Tanwar deserves a standing ovation and much more for her performance in the show. Without Sakshi’s powerful portrayal of a grieving mother, the story of Mai would not come to life.
Sakshi navigates her multiple personas of mousy downtrodden nurse and a ruthless grieving mother with such ease that it is almost impossible to detach from the character. We find ourselves supporting a regular woman’s crime as she searches for answers.
Mai: A Mother’s Rage is a rare gem that transcends borders to speak to a universality of a simple truth; a mother’s love is the world’s greatest weapon.
Any ordinary woman can turn into the most fearsome creature if her baby is harmed. Just as the show depicts, you never know what a mother is fully capable of doing…
Star rating: 4 stars
