Pankaj Tripathi gives Mimi its good moments

Mimi
Netflix
Kriti Sannon, Pankaj Tripathi
5.5/10

See this one for Pankaj Tripathi if nothing else. Not that Kriti Sannon makes a mess of her baby bump, but the show holds around Tripathi’s slow moving, under rated histrionics in a movie that comes wrapped in so many genres that if ends up getting a bit of a labour pain.

Mimi is centred around the issue of surrogacy, abandonment by biological parents and in a broader way a slim look at the entire issue of rented wombs, exploitation, foreign couples seeking cheaper surrogates and the society’s lack of knowledge.

The two-hour-15-minute movie could have been a lot better if it had not straddled multiple platforms – it is in part comedy, in part social drama and in part an issue-based film conveying a moral dictum.

Aspiring actress-dancer Mimi is spotted by an American couple looking for an Indian surrogate for their baby in a Rajasthani town. They offer her Rs 20 lakh to accept the surrogacy offer which she does as she needs money to fund her Bollywood dreams. Pankaj Tripathi, a taxi driver, is the go-between.

All goes well till the couple decides to abandon the plan when Mimi is fully pregnant and ready to deliver. Apparently such cases are quite common in real life in India where surrogacy very recently got codified into law.

Back to the film, in the entire rigmarole of this movie, wherein conservative parents from a back-town of conservative Rajasthan are shown to be unaware of but receptive to their daughter returning all pregnant and without a husband!

Thrown in for variety is a thrice divorced victim of triple talaaq, a Muslim singer and Mimi’s friend as also Mimi’s Hindu family from a singing gharana. The entire ambience of Mimi’s small town created by the director is over the top as it is brought in an the ultimate Utopian society, which is so perfect that it is unreal.

There is no ripple to a single girl vanishing for nine months from her home and returning 9-month pregnant; all’s fine when she points at a middle-aged man as the father of her child; all’s fine when it is discovered that the this father of the child is no just too old for Mimi but also married and for a brief time was considered Muslim too!

So, lack of a serious thread on surrogacy is explained as a flipside view on the subject which despite being engaging and funny in parts is entirely unbelievable.

Sannon does her bit with her looks and her above average acting skills and plays the part of a dancer, a friend and a daughter with the same gumption that she plays the mother. But her role is limited which is rather strange, considering she is the central theme – the surrogate!

The film is a must watch to catch up with the highly talented and screen engaging Pankaj Tripathi who plays the pimp and taxi driver with a touch of gold, as also a heart of gold. He is the one who gives most moments to the film and it is his signature tune muted histrionics that lifts out the movie from its very apparent loopholes. Tripathi is a gem we would like to see more of.