Arati Kadav reflects on the importance of questioning Bollywood’s celebratory portrayal of Karva Chauth and her decision to frame the film as a coming-of-age story.
Mrs was released on Zee5 on February 7. (Photo Credits: Instagram)
Filmmaker Arati Kadav’s directorial Mrs has taken the streaming world by storm. Since its release, the film has received widespread acclaim for its raw portrayal of a woman’s struggles within a patriarchal family. The film, a Hindi adaptation of the Malayalam hit movie The Great Indian Kitchen, sees Sanya playing the role of Richa, an aspiring dancer whose dreams are crushed after marriage. Now, in a candid conversation with The Indian Express’s Screen, the filmmaker reflects on the importance of questioning Bollywood’s celebratory portrayal of Karva Chauth and her decision to frame the film as a coming-of-age story.
Answering about her decision to add the subtle yet striking Karva Chauth sequence in Mrs, Arati said that she felt it was ‘the most fitting cultural touchpoint’ to feature in the film as Bollywood has glorified the ritual. The industry hasturned the festival into something celebratory and even gender-neutral, when in reality, it is not.
She said, “First of all, in today’s climate, making overt religious statements is not easy. What the original did was phenomenal, but it was also deeply tied to the socio-cultural realities of the South. With our adaptation, I wanted to reflect the world I have grown up in. In North India, Karva Chauth felt like the most fitting cultural touchpoint.”
Elaborating further, she revealed that the Karva Chauth scene was a last-minute addition, just 20 days before the shoot. “I kept thinking, ‘How can we make a Hindi film about domestic life without addressing Karva Chauth?’ Especially considering how Bollywood has glorified the ritual, turning it into something celebratory and even gender-neutral. That portrayal bothers me. Our films have normalised it to such an extent that it is influencing entire generations,” she added.
In the same conversation, the filmmaker responded to the ongoing argument that Mrs. functions as a coming-of-age story—both in how it’s pitched and performed. “Oh, absolutely. I kept telling Sanya throughout the shoot that this is, at its heart, a coming-of-age narrative. It is a story about self-identity and self-actualisation. The most significant arc lies between the first and last shots. In the opening, we only see Richa’s eyes reflected in a mirror. But at the end, we see her fully and a self-assured version of who she is becoming,” Arati Kadav stated.
Talking about Mrs, the film explores themes of resilience, self-discovery and the challenges women face in finding their voice. The movie, streaming on ZEE5, is an adaptation of the hit Malayalam film The Great Indian Kitchen. Starring Sanya Malhotra, Nishant Dahiya and Kanwaljit Singh, the film shows Richa (Sanya), an aspiring dancer who is married off into a patriarchal family, navigating her journey of self-discovery and seeking her own identity.
