‘90s Queens Make a Valiant Return

Madhuri Dixit’s new movie is super queer, and Juhi Chawla debuts.

Hello, friends! Boy, has it been a quiet 2022 for Priya’s Kitty Party or what? While I’ve been tending to my personal life the last few months, you can rest assured that I’ve missed writing about South Asian shows and films as much as you (possibly) missed receiving this in your inboxes! The good news is, I’m back — and honestly, I could not be happier to bring you reviews and trailers once again. So here’s to a valiant Fall return! Now, let’s dive into my picks of the month and a bit of what I’ve been reading:

Out this week: Mismatched: Season 2 (Series, Netflix), Dobaara (Film, Netflix)

What I’ve Been Watching

I Love This But Also Hate It: “Maja Ma” | Film | Amazon

Let’s be honest, we’d all probably watch just about anything with Madhuri Dixit in it — even a direct-to-streaming film. Coming off the sucess of “The Fame Game” earlier this year, Dixit stars in this film as Pallavi Patel, a middle-class housewife with a seemingly perfect life. But when her son Tejas (Ritwik Bhowmik) is about to get engaged, a secret about Pallavi emerges and threatens to upend everything.

First of all, this movie is super queer. You can’t tell from the trailer, or any of the marketing, because we still live in an era in India where films or shows that reveal their queerness run the risk of being written off completely by the mainstream. It’s unfortunate, but especially in this case: “Maja Ma” seeks to tell an important story about a middle-aged woman who’s a lesbian but could never fully accept her identity, instead falling into a heteronormative marriage and family life as was expected of her. It seems like a highly relatable story and one that is probably less uncommon than we may think.

And while the topic is admirable, as a movie, “Maja Ma” suffers. From the getgo, it’s clear that the filmmakers hate NRIs, giving several main characters possibly the worst fake American accents I’ve ever seen on-screen (sorry, “Aa Ab Laut Chalen”), as well as a quintessentially cringey America anthem that includes the line, “H1B, Land of Liberty.” This is not only extremely offputing and offensive, it throws the balance of the film very early on, sort of shooting itself in the foot before it can leap. The writing also makes the entire movie a confusing and stale sojourn into not-quite-comedy and not-quite-drama: There’s immense focus on how everyone is reacting to the truth of Pallavi’s sexuality, with little effort to highlight her backstory, her emotions or even her own journey to acceptance.

But really, Dixit’s acting and her character’s journey are maybe the only saving grace here. To face the blowback she does on all fronts (her son wants her to do conversion therapy, her husband takes Viagra because he feels emasculated, her straight daughter outs her in an attempt to support her) takes a lot of courage, and Dixit does what she does best: acting with her eyes and her facial expressions, exerting everything from love to courage to shame with ease. Dixit alone carries the weight of Pallavi’s journey, and does so authentically — making the pain of her story all the more real.

And in the end, the rest of the cast tries but fails in comparison to Dixit. Gajraj Rao as Pallavi’s husband is apt but sort of wasted, as we have seen him do far greater roles. Bhowmik as Pallavi’s son fails to leave a lasting impression (even though I loved him in “Bandish Bandits”). Srishti Shrivastava as Pallavi’s daughter owns her screentime well, in fact, but her character leaves little room for shades of emotion. Perhaps my only favorite costar was Simone Singh, who carries off her character’s many shades with ease, and manages to create immense chemistry with Dixit in their brief scenes together.

Overall, I’m so proud that someone like Dixit signed on to a film like this, and a story about a later-in-life coming out was traversed in this medium. In the end, the film falls short in and of itself, and definitely not because of its story or its lead actor. It may be worth a watch if you have time, if only to see Dixit in this one-of-a-kind role.

Strangest Streaming Debut: “Hush Hush” | Series | Amazon

Juhi Chawla has officially joined the streaming train with this series from Amazon that debuted late last month. Chawla stars as Ishi, a sort of implicit queen bee of her group of friends. Saiba (Soha Ali Khan), Zaira (Shahana Goswami) and Dolly (Kritika Kamra) are left to pick up the pieces when Ishi is attacked at a party — and then turns up dead. Was Ishi in trouble before she died? And more importantly, was she murdered?

The show feels very reminiscient of HBO’s “Big Little Lies” at first, especially because of the premise. Instead, the show deviates from that familiar story to lay out a mystery far greater: it turns out each of the women have their own secrets as well, and as they try to understand what secrets Ishi was hiding from them, they find themselves digging themselves in deeper.

The story itself progresses slowly, and it sort of feels like the show weaves so many webs of mystery that it gets caught up in itself. In the end, it feels a bit like the women do a lot more dawdling than mystery-solving: they spend a lot of time coming to each other’s rescue only to depart again abruptly to put out the fires in their own lives. What emerges is a sort of disjointed path to a by-now-muddled mystery — maybe the hope is that each of their storylines is worth more alone than together? If so, then I’m on board: the show sheds light on various taboo topics including mental illness and human trafficking, all while giving each woman a strong and meaty role. This is, unfortunately, still too rare in the streaming era, and I’m drawn to it like catnip.

Chawla is the root of the show, both in her character and in her acting. She brings a mature stoicism to the enigma that is Ishi, and it’s a delight to see a different side of her than the over-the-top melodramatic damsel-in-distress she often played in the 90s. She’s also joined by her fellow actress of the era, Ayesha Jhulka — it’s amazing that this marks their first time working together despite being contemporaries. Jhulka is, unfortunately, a bit forgettable. She fails to make a mark, perhaps given the restraints of her not-fully-sketched-out character.

The rest of the cast, though, is a strong one — I’m honestly a fan of every single one of these ladies and have been following their work for ages. Khan is strong and forceful, and I’m so glad to see her own a streaming role, far from the less-than-stellar ones she briefly got in Bollywood. Goswami is powerful as well, persuasively portraying a career-driven woman who’s also trying to fill a deeper void. Kamra is meek yet reliable, but for me, struggles to make a mark among so many strong cast members. And Karishma Tanna is a surprise — she truly helms the forward progress of the show with her assured presence as Inspector Geeta.

Overall, this is a series that’s definitely worthy of your time, if only for loads of nostalgia, a spectacular female cast and a fresh story. Just don’t expect any quick answers to the mystery at hand — as we all know, the real drama is the friends we made along the way.

Don’t Miss: “Delhi Crime” Season 2 (Series, Netflix)

While this came out almost two months ago, it bears a mention here — Shefali Shah returns to the Emmy Award-winning series as DCP Vartika Chaturvedi to take on a brand new case (also based on a real story, like the first season). Shah is mesmerizing in this role, and the new season thankfully affords viewers a chance to delve more into the personal lives and drama of Chaturvedi and her fellow officers. Don’t miss this one — and if you haven’t seen the first season, you can dive into this one without missing too much!

Skippable: “Plan A Plan B” (Film, Netflix)

Call me a cynic, but a reductive and predictable rom-com in the age of streaming feels pretty out of place. Riteish Deshmukh and Tamannaah Bhatia star as a divorce lawyer and a matchmaker, respectively, who start out hating each other and then… yes, you already guessed it. And the movie itself brings nothing new: there’s no good acting, along with slow, boring writing. Skip this for sure!

What I’ve Been Reading (and Listening to)

• “When The Hindu Right Came for Bollywood” — This article takes a hard look at the incredible web of Hindu right wing efforts to infiltrate the Indian entertainment industry, steering production houses towards nationalistic stories with Muslim villains and embellished retellings of history. The interviews and anecdotes alone are worth your time. [The New Yorker]

• Deepika Padukone (and briefly, comedian Aparna Nancherla) appears on this week’s episode of Meghan’s new podcast, Archetypes, to talk about her journey with depression, what it was like to seek help and why she decided to speak up about it. (Side note: This whole podcast is incredible, and Mindy Kaling was on it last month — that episode is also worth a listen!) [Spotify]

• With his latest novel, Maulik Pancholy (“30 Rock”) talks about the importance of using his voice to tell the kinds of stories he wishes he had growing up. [The Juggernaut]

Coming Soon to a Couch Near You

• October 21: “Four More Shots Please” Season 3 | Series | Starring: Sayani Gupta, Bani J, Kirti Kulhari, Maanvi Gagroo | Amazon

• October 22: “Krishna Vrinda Vihari” | Film (Telugu) | Netflix

• October 28: “Indian Predator: Murder in a Courtroom” | DocuSeries | Netflix
  If you haven’t see the other documentaries in the “Indian Predator” series, I highly recommend checking them out — the production quality and subjects have catapulted India right into Netflix’s global true crime obsession… and this latest one seems to be on par with the rest.

• November 11: “Monica O My Darling” | Film (Hindi) | Starring: Rajkumar Rao, Huma Qureshi, Radhika Apte | Netflix

And that’s all I’ve got for you this time! If you made it this far, thanks for joining me once again on this wonderful journey — I’ll be back in your inboxes in a couple weeks with new picks and more good stuff!