MIMI- DIRECTORS & CAST
Directors – Laxman Utekar & Rajesh Bhatia
Mimi- Kriti Sanon
Summer- Evelyn Edwards
John- Aiden Whytock
Bhanu- Pankaj Triphathi
Shama (Mimi’s Friend)- Sai Tamhankar
Mansingh (Mimi’s Father)- Manoj Pahwa
Shobha (Mimi’s Mother)- Supriya Pathak
Movie Summary
Mimi is a film based on a story of a young girl called Mimi from Rajasthan, who aspires to become a Bollywood actress one day. In order for Mimi to fulfill this big dream of hers she needs a lot of money to go Mumbai to test her luck in the movie industryShe employs the family driver, Bhanu to help take her there, but he identifies her as the perfect candidate as a surrogate for his foreign clients Summer and John, who are willing to pay 20 lakh for her services. Bhanu believes this will allow her to pursue her dreams, and with some convincing, Mimi agrees for the sake of the money. What ensues are many unexpected turns which leaves Mimi in serious trouble and suffers consequences which she must deal with…
Once Mimi had agreed to the huge cash deal, Summer and John were extremely pleased with this which they then started the process of surrogacy which soon later Mimi became pregnant with their baby. With her best friend Shama and Bhanu together, they all kept this pregnancy a secret from everyone in the village and Mimi’s parents. As Mimi’s pregnancy develops, twists and turns ensue and I think that’s enough background on the story! Check out this movie to see how Mimi copes with this news and pregnancy.
Will Mimi’s parents find out?
Will Mimi keep the baby?
How will her closest confidants support her?
Who knows? There’s only one way to find out and that’s by watching the movie, so go check it out on Netflix!
My Review
Overall, without giving too much away, I think this was a great movie to watch and I would definitely recommend this to others as the surrogacy experience Mimi encounters is something that we do not realise is fairly common in the modern-day which is a massive eye-opener. The way Rajesh Bhatia and Laxman Utekar have produced this movie and shown the sacrifices Mimi has had to make is remarkable, especially for a woman at a young age. The character development is well done and the audience is constantly put in a position to ask the question – what risks would you take to achieve your dreams?
I believe that Bhatia and Utekars approach to surrogacy was a bit neglectful as they didn’t really show the degree to which women are used and discarded by upper-class citizens, and why it’s a taboo subject in Asian society.
An obvious example is at the start of the movie where the portrayal of women in a surrogacy clinic is likened to that of ‘Stock’ – inhuman, expendable, disrespected. There are opportunities to really drive the experiences of the other women in the surrogacy clinic, particularly as we realise John has refused other girls there, but we are left to guess why.
However, Mimi deserves credibility with what she goes through and shows true wisdom but she also shows the struggle of citizens like her that they will do anything to obtain the means to pursue their dreams, and only then consider the implication of such drastic decisions and the lengths required to hide such measures. She also shows the lack of education in the Asian society as a whole with surrogacy as this was the reason why she had to keep her surrogacy a secret.
The clever use of humour is used in particular with Bhanu who often provides a light-hearted relief to an often solemn moment. We share his feeling of responsibility and anguish for Bhanu, but very much enjoy his comedic skill.
It often feels like Mimi’s parents are their commentary are representative of stereotypical ideologies and opinions held by Asian cultures. The delivery of these statements forces the audience Shama supporting role reduces in prominence as the movie ensues, and other characters emerge as more eminent. Her position as the best friend is established early
Final Thoughts
I think it is brilliant that Bhatia and Laxman wanted to tackle a topic like this, and there should be more movies on taboo subjects in Asian society as this gives people some insight that can help overcome the issue behind these subjects. Media is an important medium to make audiences and communities think and discuss topics. There is no doubt that watching Mimi will raise a few conversations around the roti table, which is again why movies like this are important.
The directors clearly worked on making sure the audience was entertained by the movie and thought-provoking moments to challenge our taboos. We would have liked to have seen more focus on the issues behind the subject, and the talent of both directors would have allowed for this, but ultimately I very much enjoyed this movie, and I would very much recommend it to watch
