Kriti Sanon on headlining Dinesh Vijan's Mimi minus another leading actor
Upala KBR (MID-DAY; November 3, 2019)

"I am taking baby steps," starts off Kriti Sanon, who has begun shooting for the Laxman Utekar-directed film Mimi, where she plays a surrogate mother. Given the theme, the actor says that she is still uncertain about how the character will shape up, although she has prepared for the part.

A few days into the shoot in Mandawa, Sanon says she is still getting the lay of the land with respect to her character, "I feel wobbly because I am questioning myself at every point. Once a scene is over [and I get a grip on my character], that's when I feel stable. The first day has gone well, even though I had butterflies in my stomach." She adds that skilled co-stars help "boost confidence". Sanon is teaming up with her Bareilly Ki Barfi co-star Pankaj Tripathi, who plays her father in the Dinesh Vijan production. "Working with talented co-actors invariably lifts your performance."

After the success of Bareilly Ki Barfi (2017) and Luka Chuppi, Mimi is touted to be a turning point in the actor's career as she is the solo lead. Sanon says she is aware of the responsibility entrusted to her. "Yes, this is the first time I am doing a film which rests entirely on my shoulders, and that makes me nervous, but also excited. I feel the responsibility and intend to give it my all." She adds that the script, director and her past success give her the confidence to soldier on. "The script gives me the confidence and my working rapport with Laxman sir [who also directed Luka Chuppi] amplifies the belief [in myself]. The success of my earlier films assured me that I was meant for the movies. I am not scared to shoulder a film, and with Mimi, it feels right."

Ask her if she feels the pinch when heroes walk away with the credit, and she insists that any film is a collaboration and hence "everyone deserves credit". "A film is not made by one person; it is a product of teamwork. But for me, it's about performance and not credit."

Unlike earlier projects, this is also the first time that Sanon will be dealing with a sensitive topic, but the actor clarifies that it is "laced with humour". "While it is based on true events and inspired by the National Award-winning Marathi film, Mala Aai Vhhaychay, the subject of surrogacy is dealt with in an entertaining manner, without losing focus of the emotions involved."

Excited and nervous in equal measure about headlining her first woman-centric film, Kriti Sanon on playing a surrogate mother in Mimi
Mohar Basu (MID-DAY; September 4, 2019)

After the success of Luka Chuppi, Kriti Sanon is reuniting with director Laxman Utekar for Mimi, which revolves around surrogacy. While industrywallahs may discourage young actors from playing a mother on screen, Sanon is certain that letting the film pass would have been a mistake.

"Dino [Dinesh Vijan, producer] had acquired the rights of the Marathi film, Mala Aai Vhhaychay [2010], a while back. When he had told me about the concept, I loved it and it stayed with me. Months later, while we were on a flight, he narrated a part of the story casually to me, and I had goosebumps, and tears in my eyes. When a film has that effect on you, you know you have to do it," smiles the actor, who will share screen space with Pankaj Tripathi.

Given the movie's premise of a young woman becoming a surrogate for a couple, netizens have quickly drawn parallels with Vicky Donor (2012) that had Ayushmann Khurrana play a sperm donor who helped reproductively challenged couples. "Donating sperms and going through pregnancy are way different from each other," she argues, dismissing the notion of any similarity between the movies. "This film is about a young girl who has dreams and aspirations, and how becoming a surrogate to a couple changes her life. It can't be compared to any film that has been made here."

Sanon has enjoyed a spate of successful films in the recent past. She understands the weight of expectations that comes with Mimi, which will be her first woman-centric project. "It is a huge responsibility and I am nervous as well as excited. The story is so divorced from my experiences, and I have to portray emotions that I have never felt; that makes it challenging. But I want to take risks. I'm glad that Mimi will be my first so-called female-centric film."

After their horror-comedy, Dinesh Vijan and Amar Kaushik adapt Marathi film on surrogacy
Roshmila Bhattacharya (MUMBAI MIRROR; September 15, 2018)

Even as their horror-comedy continues to make merry at the box-office, Mirror has learnt that Stree director Amar Kaushik, and the film’s producer, Dinesh Vijan, have started work on their next collaboration.

The film is the official Hindi adaptation of Samruoddhi Porey’s 2011 Marathi film, Mala Aai Vhhaychay! (I Want To Be A Mother!) which deals with the contentious issue of surrogacy against the backdrop of the colourful world of a Lavni dancer in the interiors of Maharashtra.

Confirming the news, Amar told Mirror that he had been searching for a story with a strong emotional connect, in a genre different from Stree, and when Dinesh narrated this one, he knew instantly that he wanted to direct it. “I’ve always been attracted to ma-bachchon ki kahaniyan (mother-children stories),” says the young director who has become the toast of B-town with his sleeper hit, pointing out that his earlier directorial, an award-winning short titled Aaba, had revolved around a dying grandfather and his granddaughter in a remote village in Arunachal Pradesh. “What makes this one even more interesting is that it is rooted in a true story, one of the many cases that came to Samruddhi Porey (the Marathi film’s writer-director-producer) who is a practising lawyer with the Bombay High Court,” he avers.

Mala Aai Vhhaychay! which bagged the National Award for Best Feature Film in Marathi in 2011, revolved around a Lavni dancer, Yashoda, who agrees to lend her womb to a foreigner, Mary, for money. But halfway through the pregnancy, the women learn that due to certain complications the child could be born deformed. Mary leaves Yashoda with a baby on her hands, only to return a few years later to confront the truth. It offered a legal and emotional perspective on the thorny question of who should get the child: the surrogate who raised him or the mother whose blood runs through him?

“Once when I was on a flight, I saw Garth Davis’s Oscar-nominated biographical drama Lion, again based on a true story, and wished I could make a film as emotionally stirring and engaging. Then, I saw this Marathi film which had been selected by President Pratibha Patil to be screened for former American President Barack Obama during his visit to India and immediately acquired its Hindi remake rights (It was remade in Telugu in 2013 as Welcome Obama),” informs Dinesh.

He informs that it deals with an unexplored aspect of surrogacy, that of a poor Indian village woman being used as a surrogate by foreigners. “My writer, Sita Menon, has been adapting the story since the past one year to cater to a wider audience while taking into account new surrogacy laws. Amar is the right guy to direct it. Going by the way he married horror and humour in Stree, I know he will make you smile and tear up with this one,” Dinesh points out. And is the sequel of Stree on course? “Yes, Amar will direct Stree 2 once he’s done with this one,” he concludes.