Maja Ma: A Preachy Social Entertainer that Explores Femininity & Sexuality

Madhuri Dixit is always a vision to watch. There’s something about the way she presents herself on screen. This time around she is no different with her second digital venture, Maja Ma. Before this, she starred in Netflix’s thriller series, The Fame Game. Maja Ma is Amazon Prime Video’s first Indian original that was released worldwide on 6^th October 2022. When I heard about the film, I was pretty excited to watch the “dancing diva” grace our TV screens once again. Needless to say, I caught the film as soon as it was released. Maja Ma means “having fun” in Gujarati. The makers and director, Anand Tiwari, have chosen this title owing to the strong and colourful Gujarati influence and culture the film has to offer. But, is the film really maja ma?

Let’s find out!

*Spoilers Alert!

The film revolves around a Gujarati family of four. Pallavi Patel played by Madhuri Dixit is the hero of the story. She is portrayed to be the “perfect” wife, mother, homemaker, dancer and chef. Everybody looks up to her including her son, Tejas, who is studying in the US. He loves his mother so much that he even asks her to make him have dahi shakar AKA sweetened curd virtually before doing anything auspicious. On the other hand, this perfect family also has the father, Patel bhai, who is the society chairperson and a quintessential gujjubhai. Then we have Tara, Tejas’ sister. She is portrayed to be a woke woman who is currently pursuing a PhD in Gender Studies.

Source - ScoopWhoop

It’s all fun and games until the key protagonist, Pallavi Patel, unintentionally comes out of the closet during a heated screaming session with her daughter. It slips out of her mouth that she is a lesbian. At this point, it leaves the viewer wondering if she is actually saying the truth or did she just say it to make her very testing and liberal daughter keep quiet. The narrative deepens after Pallavi makes this unwanted revelation. All this occurs on the eve of her son’s engagement who is striving hard to impress his future in-laws who are American in their outlook yet pretentiously sanskaari. Hell breaks loose when Pallavi’s revelation is played accidently on the big screen during a Garba night.

Chaos ensues thereafter…

Tejas’ future in-laws are hell bent on breaking the alliance as they do not want to be associated with a family this scandalous. The society begins questioning patel bhai’s “mardaangi” (masculinity), and Tejas still hasn’t been able to come to terms that his “pure” and “perfect” mother is capable of something like this. Everyone in the family gives Pallavi step-motherly treatment except her daughter Tara, who actually takes her to a centre that has people from the LGBTQIA+ community. She forces her mother to open up to the counsellor. However, Pallavi decides to stay mum on her sexual orientation and quickly runs from there after having another argument with her daughter.

Honestly, this isn’t the first time Bollywood has tackled a sensitive concept like this. Several films have explored the concept of “gender identity” struggle. For example, ‘Bombay Talkies’ in 2013 and ‘Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga’ in 2019. In fact, Ayushmann Khurrana is one such actor who has played the lead role in many socially-expressive stories. A few examples include Vicky Donor, Badhaai Do, Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan and Dream Girl among others.

Maja Ma is rather mature and addresses several concepts in one film. It gracefully tackles femininity, sexuality and patriarchy. It manages to deliver a strong message and makes sure the audience receives it. The premise too is progressive and is a reminder of why we should have more and more films like these that are important. It is thought-provoking yet tugs the heartstrings with its emotional moments.

Source - Telegraph India

The nuances of every relationship in Maja Ma are captured so beautifully that the film even got a shout-out from the LGBTQ community.

The Humsafar Trust, India's first community-based org for the LGBTQ community tweeted “Maja Ma is a story of the perfect woman we all know & her emotional journey of dealing with sexuality whilst managing the domino effect that it has on her loved ones. Thank you Prime Video, Anand Tiwari and team for sensitively portraying this story.” Well I guess, that in itself is a huge victory for the film.

A scene in the film which I found disappointing is about how Pallavi’s son Tejas agrees to his future in-laws for his mother to undergo a lie-detector test to prove her sexuality. It’s sad that such a forward-thinking character like his who is studying in the US puts his mother through this torture. When he learns about his mother’s affair with her best friend, he even takes her to a God-man to apparently “cure” her from her “illness”. It’s high time we as a society stop associating being of a different sexual orientation with an illness. Everyone is made in a different way and there is a clear difference between gender and sexuality.

In the second half of the film, Pallavi is seen lecturing her son about her sexual orientation. She explains to him that she “loved” her ex-lesbian flame but did not engage in any sexual act with her. The argument strives to convey how lesbian love is different from lesbian sex. However, I found this a bit problematic. Indian society needs to understand that lesbians don’t just hold hands. In fact, they have sex too. They get intimate just like a man and woman.

Though a few parts in the film were tackled messily, overall Maja Ma gets a thumbs up from me. Madhuri’s character has been written very well and it actually helps the audience sensitise with people who are afraid to come out of the closet.

Source - Cinema Express

The film ends on a beautiful note where Pallavi and her ex-lover Kanchan (Simone Singh) are seen dancing wholeheartedly in the same way they used to when they were young and in love. Some parts are a bit preachy but I’d give the director a benefit of doubt as it’s a film with a message and it’s impossible to convey the intention without being educational.

Go watch Maja Ma on Amazon Prime video and tell us what you thought!

Do check out the views on the web series Hush Hush too!