Jun 05, 2026 11:38am IST
‘Maa Behen’ Review: A Feminist Comedy That Gets Tangled In Its Own Plot
Suresh Triveni’s “Maa Behen” starts with a funny, clever idea. By naming its main characters Rekha, Jaya, Sushma, and Hema, the movie gives a direct, playful nod to the famous old Nirma washing powder commercial. Set in a neighborhood called Adarsh Colony, the film wants to be a sharp, funny take on women's lives wrapped inside a chaotic murder mystery. On paper, it sounds like a perfect mix. In reality, the movie tries to ride too many boats at the same time, leaving the audience feeling a bit lost.
The story kicks off when a neighbor, Ravi Kishan Kumar Gupta, supposedly dies from an electric shock. This "murder" is what brings our three main women together. While it takes some time to build, the excitement does eventually increase, making you wonder what is actually up with the neighborhood. Even when a local cop named Maheshwari shows up—who happens to have a massive crush on Jaya—the stakes stay pretty low. When we finally find out that Gupta isn't even dead and was just fast asleep, the plot grabs your attention, but not the way it should for a murder mystery.
Where the film actually succeeds is in the quiet, messy moments between the women. The constant bickering, teasing, and bonding between the three generationally different characters feel completely real and relatable.
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Madhuri Dixit leads the pack as Rekha, a wine-shop owner and the widow of a railway ticket checker named Sukumar. Rekha is a woman who simply does not care about what society thinks. Madhuri brings so much grace and defiance to the role, especially when dealing with a judgmental neighborhood that casually throws ugly words like "witch" or "man-eater" at her. Next to her is Dharna Durga making her debut as Sushma, the youngest of the trio. Sushma is a Patna-based social media influencer who looks confident online but is a total mess inside. In a desperate bid to go viral, she posts a five-minute kissing video with a guy she has only known for five days—only for him to dump her right in the comments section, sending her running to Jaya's house for shelter.
But out of the three, it is Triptii Dimri who completely steals the show. Triptii plays Jaya, a crafty woman who originally married her childhood friend's guy just because of her excellent roti-making skills. Now, she is trapped in a suffocating, old-fashioned household where she is treated like an unpaid servant. Triptii is incredibly convincing as a woman pushed to her absolute limit by everyday sexism.
The absolute best scene in the entire movie belongs to her. Triptii completely snaps and whacks her husband in a moment that feels incredibly satisfying. In this scene, she lets out years of hidden pain, screaming about how she is treated like a maid, the endless mountains of rotis she has rolled, and how she has to bear all the insults for not being able to get pregnant. Triptii plays this with a raw, heartbreaking frustration that audiences should remember after the movie is over.
The main problem with “Maa Behen” is that it doesn't know what genre it wants to be. It keeps shifting between a political satire, a dark comedy, a murder mystery, and a serious drama about women's rights.
The issue isn't the message. The problems these women face are incredibly important and need to be talked about. The issue is how the story is told. The movie takes a very long time to get to the point. But when it finally reaches a big emotional moment, it rushes through it just to move the plot forward. The pacing is totally backwards—it is fast when it needs to be slow, and slow when it needs to be fast.
“Maa Behen” has an important story to tell and great acting to show, but it desperately needed a much tighter script and cleaner editing to really land its punch.
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