Mrs Chatterjee Vs Norway Review: Rani Mukerji is the coveted centrepiece
Cast: Rani Mukerji, Anirban Bhattacharya, Tiina Tauraite, Kristjan Üksküla, Erki Laur, Neena Gupta, Jim Sarbh, Carol Tamm
Rani Mukerji is central to this Ashima Chibber film which deals with the fictional depiction of a real-life incident. At the superficial level, the film deals with a child caught in the crossfire between a foreign culture fighting hard to keep in tune with the moorings and his parents who genuinely believe that there is nothing fundamentally wrong with smacking an erring child.
A decade ago, a young Indian couple woke up to the reality of a Norwegian Child Welfare Agency depriving them of their child on the charge that the child is a victim of physical violence. The intervention of the Government of India and the then External Affairs Minister SM Krishna ensured that the child returned to the parents hemmed with multiple conditions.
The film, unfortunately, is more in the nature of an accusation against processes, people and institutions in Netherlands. From the dramatic start, ‘they’ are projected as heartless, rude ‘Westerners’ who cannot come to terms with some basic factors of child rearing — the Indian way.
The film thankfully moves partly into a fictional mode with the mother kidnapping her children from the foster home and also with the parents-in-law arriving in traditional mode. The next angle is when the foster home turns a complete villain and the adoption of the children is stopped in the tracks.
What happens, how does the couple from an ordinary middle-class Bengali family fight to succeed an alien, unfriendly nation, and culture vying for superiority form the crux of the story. Even after the children arrive in India, the challenges continue. It gets louder, so shrill and dramatic that the Norwegian system seems even better.
Of the cast — Anirban Bhattacharya as the parent is hardly convincing. Like the script, he cannot decide whether he is good or bad. It is Jim Sarbh as the lawyer who comes up with a polished performance.
Truly, the script is dedicated to Rani Mukerji, who fits the bill perfectly. Dressed in the characteristic Bengal cottons, she delivers when and wherever the script asks of her. In fact, she swims through and survives the script with a performance that has already won her praise from her fraternity. As Mrs Chatterjee, she is not just the centrepiece, but the coveted centrepiece.
