Netflix and Abundantia Entertainment Pvt. Ltd.’s Maa Behen is a comedy. It is the story of a mother and her two daughters and how they squabble among themselves but join forces when they have to fight their housing society in general and one resident in particular.
Rekha (Madhuri Dixit) has two daughters — Jaya (Tripti Dimri) and Sushma (Dharna Durga). Jaya is married to Manas (Shardul Bhardwaj) and lives with him. On the other hand, Sushma is unmarried and lives alone. Sushma makes cheap reels with her brother-in-law, Manas, which are popular because of their content. The two daughters consider mother Rekha to be a lady of easy virtues, something which members of the housing society in which Rekha lives, also believe. For, in spite of being a widow, Rekha dresses up sexily and loses no opportunity to tease and seduce men. Rekha works in a wine shop in which neighbour Gupta (Ravi Kishan) works as the accountant. One night, Rekha panicks as Mr. Gupta has died in her house. Jaya and Sushma are convinced that their mother was in a relationship with Gupta whose daughter, incidentally, is due to get married. By the by, it emerges that Gupta is not dead. But what was he doing in Rekha’s house so late in the night? Had Rekha invited him to her house or was Gupta a man with a roving eye? Is Rekha actually a woman of easy virtues? Is there more to it than meets the eye in the story of Rekha and her two daughters? What are the other skeletons which come tumbling out of the family cupboard?
Suresh Triveni and Pooja Tolani have written an interesting story which may not be great but it keeps the viewers engaged. Pooja Tolani’s screenplay comprises scenes which entertain. Yes, the drama may not be high on logic but it keeps the audience involved and entertained throughout. Some of the turns and twists look contrived but the pace of the screenplay is so fast that the audience, who enjoy the proceedings, refuse to get bogged down by the lack of logic and instead go with the flow of the entertaining drama. The confusion that is created every few minutes keeps the viewers involved in the guessing game and asking for more. And they don’t get disappointed because the drama has many layers which keep getting introduced and take it forward without getting boring. Pooja Tolani’s dialogues are very good and evoke laughter at a lot of places. The dialect used by the actors affords itself to humour.
Besides the drama, another plus point are the performances of the big as well as smaller artistes. Madhuri Dixit shines in the role of mother Rekha. She is thoroughly entertaining and performs brilliantly. Tripti Dimri is lovely in the role of Jaya. She acts with effortless ease. Dharna Durga is natural to the core and endears herself to the viewers with her free and spontaneous acting. Ravi Kishan makes his mark as Gupta but it must be added that he doesn’t get much scope to show his talent and his comic timing. Arunoday Singh is effective as police inspector Maheshwari. Shrivardhan Trivedi is very impressive as the Khalbali TV host. Paresh Rawal is natural, as always, in a special appearance as Chandru Dwivedi. Geetanjali Kulkarni makes her presence amply felt in the role of Mrs. Gupta. Rama Sharma leaves a mark as Goldie. Shardul Bhardwaj has his moments as Manas. Vijay Maurya does his bit well in a special appearance as the bhajan singer. Kritarth Singh (as Abhishek), Talib Mehdi (as Abhishek’s father), Jatin Sarna (in a special appearance as Sukumar), Kirti Jain (as Sukumar’s mother), Padmashree Josalkar (as Jaya’s mother-in-law), Navya Rathod (as young Sushma), Khushi Sachin Hajare (as young Jaya), Sanchi Kaur (as young Goldie), Rajesh Kumar, Naresh Kumar and Mohit Kumar (all three as the brothers-in-law of Jaya), and Sanjay Sharma (as Jaya’s father-in-law) are natural and do their parts well.
Suresh Triveni’s direction is very good. He has made an entertainer for all age groups. Music (Akashdeep Sengupta and Akshay & IP) goes well with the mood of the film. Vijay Ganguly’s choreography is appealing. Subhajit Mukherjee’s background music is excellent. Anuj Rakesh Dhawan’s camerawork is nice. Vikram Dahiya’s action and stunt scenes are natural. Ajay H. Chodankar and Vipin Kumar’s (Patanga Art) production designing is very appropriate. The ambience of the housing colony deserves special mention. Dipika Kalra’s editing is sharp.
On the whole, Maa Behen is a very good entertainer and will be enjoyed by the families.
Released on 5-6-’26 on Netflix.