Maa Behen writer recalls Suresh Triveni’s brief: ‘I don’t want more good women like Sulu’

How did you come onboard Maa Behen?

I had a script which I’d written a while ago. So, my professor Anjum Rajabali put me in touch with Suresh. He read it very quickly, called me, and said, “Bahut achhi script hai, nahi karunga.” He basically said, “It’s in the same sweet zone as Sulu, I want to do something different, and I have something half-baked, so would you like to have a look at it?” He sent me the document, I opened it, saw the title Maa Behen, and decided I’m doing it.

What changed in Maa Behen after you began developing the film with him?

The basic premise was there, but it was taking a very different direction of a crime caper. I thought I could take in this idea of three single women and them feeling the absence of a man in different ways. So, I told him if I do it, I’d like to take it in a very different direction, though it’d still be a comedy. He was clear about one thing. He started writing the story as a reaction to how Sulu was perceived as a good woman. He wanted to do something where women are not so paavam, they’re flawed and more out there. That was his intention.

What’s the toughest part of writing flawed women today?

The tricky part is external, when people say this may not go down too well. You don’t think you’d write a flawed woman. You just start writing a real character, and realize what the flaws are.

What do you think is the fatal flaws of Rekha, Jaya, and Sushma?

Rekha’s biggest issue is she’s very lonely. At one point, she says, ‘Akeli aurat ko chhura bhonk ke maar dia.‘ It seems funny to us, but she has this fear that she’d die alone. She’s started to falter with this loneliness because she’s lived with it for a very long time. Jaya’s complex is because she’s grown up with so much disrespect towards her mother that she feels the only way she can’t let the same thing happen to her is if she has a conventional life, with a man in her life, a family, and a child, being a good bahu. The picture would be complete then.

Ironically, from not having a man in her life, she now has five. She goes to the other extreme of her mother. Jaya also resents her mother for having Sushma because it ruined their relationship. Sushma doesn’t know who her father is. So, her whole search for identity is translating into this desperate need for validation online. It’s not conscious, obviously. Secondly, she makes a series of bad decisions. She tries to be overfriendly with her jijaji because that just helps her get some attention. She’s also not on best terms with her sister, so a part of her enjoys the fact that she’s punishing her sister for making her feel this way.

Madhuri Dixit, Triptii Dimri and Dharna Durga’s Maa Behen is streaming on Netflix India.

They clearly don’t get along. So, does it take a dead boy to keep them glued to each other?

All mothers and daughters have this complicated relationship, where there’s a lot of love and care, but they’re constantly fighting. It’s a love-hate relationship. At least that’s the reality of me and those around me.What holds all the three women together is their shared history, which has so much pain that keeps them very tight. It’s just that they don’t know it. They keep fighting, but when push comes to shove, they come together like magnets. All kids and parents have resentments against each other. There’s always some dysfunctionality that exists with all the love. Each is trying to be their own person, but not understanding the others.

Knowing that her daughters detest her for being the way she is, why do you feel Rekha never doubts herself?

She’s a survivor and a negotiator. Everyone has to give in to something. She negotiates what she can give in to and can’t, and where she can and can’t compromise. She’s negotiated the fact that there’s no man in her house, and she has to raise two daughters. She’s constantly alert. If she can give an extra smile to the shopkeeper to get an extra bar of soap, she does that. But there’s also a line she just can’t cross. She’s made some bad decisions out of loneliness, like getting pregnant with a man who promised to marry her. But she’s also learnt along the way.

Madhuri Dixit as Rekha in Maa Behen.

To have Khalbali, a pulpy crime show, as an unreliable narrator is also an interesting choice. When did that come in?

There was this idea of a crime show host in Suresh’s draft as well. But it was used very differently, like he would pop up inside a scene and start talking to the camera. At that point, it was more of a comic element than a narrative device. This whole idea that Khalbali is the perspective of society came around the third draft. We did it like a crime show because you know that it’s an exaggeration or sensationalism of the truth.

I know that Suresh borrowed the three women’s names from the Nirma advertisement. But when did Hema come in?

Hema was there from the start, and she was introduced as Hema earlier. But when we were closing in on the shoot, I just had this brainwave that maybe we should hide the fact that her name is Hema. Sushma’s backstory, of her breaking the front tooth of another girl in school, was there, but the idea that it was Hema came much later. I thought, why can’t it be this girl only? Because then the family becomes even more hateful of the other. Then the gold tooth came in because then we could hide her name with the nickname Goldie.

How involved were you in the casting process?

I found Dharna on Instagram, and really liked her. I sent videos of her to Suresh. Since she plays a lot of these older women, he wondered how she’d play Sushma. But since I kept sending her videos to him every two days, he said, “Let’s test her.” She sent one test from Delhi. For the second test, where she had to do the kitchen scene, she got some dhaniya along because she had to sort the dhaniya out in the scene. She just stole our hearts there. Her test was really good, so Suresh said, “Let’s lock her.” I said, “She’s lovely, but don’t you want to test others?” But he said, “No, let’s lock her.”

Was Madhuri Dixit always the first choice?

When you’re writing the script, you do discuss who you want to see play the character. At that time only, Suresh had Madhuri in mind. But by the time we finished writing, he was under the impression she may not agree for a role like this. Because it wasn’t exactly a glamorous role. He was a little hesitant, but I said since this was your first instinct, why don’t you ask her? Because at least then we won’t regret it. We went to her and narrated it. She was laughing and was with us throughout. When we finished the narration, she said, “I want to do it.” There was no drama like, “I’ll get back to you.”

Did you approach Triptii before the release of Animal (2023) or after?

She was shooting for Dhadak 2 in Bhopal. We flew down to narrate it to her. There were a couple of months to go for Animal’s release. I think we got lucky there. I don’t know it’d have happened post release. When we narrated it to her, she said, “It scares me, so I want to do it.” Hunger is all you need from an actor. Now, I can’t imagine anyone else in Jaya’s role. She’s a mad girl! She’s fabulous. There are no starry airs. And she makes it easy for other people around her. You should see her and Dharna together — they bicker like sisters in real life as well. It was Dharna’s first role. She made her so comfortable.

Also Read — Alpha teaser: Bobby Deol gifts Alia Bhatt her first mission on 18th birthday. Watch

What do you think is it about Suresh that he gets women’s stories right?

There are some issues and complexed I wrote about that he, as an ally, may be aware of, but not maybe know what it feels like. But he has this strange non-performative feminism. It’s very organic. He approaches it like a human. He consciously makes his lens very respectful. Even during costume trials, when the actors are wearing nighties, he asked the costume department to take pictures inside and approve the looks. He doesn’t need the actors to come out and show them to him. Things like these make everyone feels very safe on his set. That somewhere translates on screen. His awareness that I don’t know how women would feel always is strangely, very feminist.