Tag Archives: Mrs. Undercover

Worst Bollywood Movies of 2023

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Let’s take one last look at the Worst Bollywood Movies of 2023. Good riddance.

Vidyut Jammwal starred in my favorite Hindi film of 2022 — Khuda Haafiz: Chapter 2 — but he wound up on my Worst of 2023 list with his dull historical spy drama IB71 (his first film as producer, unfortunately).

Two films earned their spots because of messy story construction: the continuity disaster/murder mystery Gumraah and the disjointed romantic comedy Tiku Weds Sheru.

Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ka Jaan was made for hardcore Salman Khan fans, but even they might want to skip it due to some offensive jokes and needless violence.

It’s always disappointing when filmmakers botch their attempts to make movies centered around strong women characters. Apurva and Mrs Undercover are two prime examples of movies that don’t help the cause of women’s empowerment as much as they’d hoped.

The next two movies on the list tried to use excessive, gory violence to be edgy but just wound up mean and depressing: Animal and Kuttey.

The crime drama Operation Fryday (aka “Shooter“) sat on the shelf for more than a decade before its release on Zee5. It should have stayed on the shelf forever, because it was by far the most ineptly made movie of the year.

The worst film on the list is more technically competent than Operation Fryday, but it’s completely morally indefensible. Bawaal equates marital problems to the Holocaust, complete with the characters imagining themselves in black & white recreations of gas chambers. Filmmaker Nitesh Tiwari frames the story’s main character (played by Varun Dhawan) as simply a guy who needs to grow up and not as an abuser who physically assaults children and refuses to let his disabled wife (played by Janhvi Kapoor) leave the house. The moral compass behind Bawaal is way, way off. It’s easily the worst Hindi film of 2023.

Kathy’s Worst Bollywood Movies of 2023

  1. Bawaal — stream on Amazon Prime
  2. Operation Fryday — stream on Zee5
  3. Kuttey — stream on Netflix
  4. Animal — stream on Netflix
  5. Mrs Undercover — stream on Zee5
  6. Apurva — stream on Hulu
  7. Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan — stream on Zee5
  8. Tiku Weds Sheru — stream on Amazon Prime
  9. Gumraah — stream on Netflix
  10. IB71 — stream on Hulu

Previous Worst Movies Lists

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Movie Review: Tarla (2023)

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3.5 Stars (out of 4)

Watch Tarla on Zee5

A new biopic about late celebrity chef Tarla Dalal offers meaningful insight into the important role food plays in family life and what it means to be a truly supportive partner.

Dalal’s story begins when Tarla (Huma Qureshi) is a college student. She wants to make something of herself, but she’s not sure what. Her parents’ insistence that she get married threatens to close the door on her undefined ambitions, but her groom-to-be, Nalin (Sharib Hashmi), promises to support her whenever she finds her passion.

Twelve happily married years and three kids later, Tarla remembers the dreams she once had for herself, though she’s no closer to figuring out how to make her mark on the world. Inspiration finally comes when — in a very funny sequence — pure vegetarian Tarla drops off lunch for Nalin at work, only to spot him in the company canteen gorging on the mutton another coworker brought from home. Horrified, Tarla decides to cook vegetables in the sauces traditionally reserved for meat dishes. Chicken 65 becomes Gobi 65, a cauliflower dish. Nalin is suitably impressed and gives up his secret carnivorous ways.

Word of Tarla’s vegetarian innovations spread throughout her apartment complex, and soon she’s teaching her speedy, tasty recipes to all the young women of marriageable age. Though the girls’ moms see the lessons as a way to boost to their daughters’ marital prospects, Tarla sees it as a means for the girls to secure themselves as much freedom and as many opportunities as they can. All the women understand that many aspects of their lives will require their husband’s permission (it is the early 1970s, after all), and knowing how to cook demonstrates responsibility. As a bonus, making tasty food keeps husbands and in-laws in a good mood. Tarla jokingly calls one of her dishes, “The recipe to let you wear jeans after marriage.”

Besides, even a single girl has to eat, so why not learn how to make delicious food for oneself?

Nalin recognizes his wife’s talent as a chef and a teacher. When his factory shuts down, he uses his free time to type up Tarla’s recipes, turning them into a cookbook that the couple self-publishes. The book eventually takes off, and a culinary star is born.

The movie gets to a point where things almost feel too easy. Tarla and Nalin are both kind people we want to see succeed, but every story needs some uncertainty. This is where things get especially interesting. With Tarla focused on starting a TV show, things begin to fall apart at home, even though Nalin is not working and they employ a maid and a cook. The characters have a realization about the way in which household management and the emotional labor it entails is too often considered woman’s work, even by a husband as otherwise progressive as Nalin.

Tarla explores aspects of gender roles that are nuanced and often ignored in mainstream Hindi films in favor of generic “all mothers are superheroes” pablum (looking at you, Mrs. Undercover). Filmmaker Piyush Gupta trusts his audience to get the message without dumbing it down.

Qureshi and Hashmi do a lovely job portraying two caring people who want one another to be happy while sometimes struggling to define happiness for themselves. Their performances are endearing and convey the qualities that must have drawn audiences to Tarla’s TV show in real life. Gupta’s film about the late celebrity chef is thoughtful and thoroughly enjoyable.

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Movie Review: Mrs Undercover (2023)

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0.5 Star (out of 4)

Watch Mrs Undercover on Zee5

The action comedy Mrs Undercover is agenda-driven, not story-driven or character-driven. It’s not even clear who the intended audience is for this film that wants to promote women’s empowerment but doesn’t treat the issue with any sophistication.

Instead of first introducing its main character, Durga (Radhika Apte) — a seemingly ordinary housewife — Mrs Undercover opens with the villain, Ajay (Sumeet Vyas): a serial killer who preys on strong, independent women. We hear him beat the feminist lawyer he has tricked into having a date with him before we watch him run over her repeatedly with his car.

This misstep immediately puts the focus on the man committing violence against women, and not the woman who will (ultimately) stand up to him. The very first woman we meet is a victim, and we witness her brutal death.

Ajay goes by the alias “The Common Man,” and he records his victims confessing their crimes against masculinity before murdering them. For some reason, literally everyone in India has their phone set to alert them when The Common Man posts a new video. Why? Who knows?

The special task force assigned to find The Common Man has one last chance to learn his identity. Turns out an undercover agent whose contact information was misplaced happens to live in Kolkata, The Common Man’s new hunting ground. That secret agent is Durga.

Durga married sexist, conservative Dev (Saheb Chatterjee) to establish her cover. But with no word from the special force in a decade, Durga went ahead and started a family. When task force chief Rangeela (Rajesh Sharma) assigns her to the case, she’s not willing to disrupt her family’s routine to do so.

Rangeela’s attempts to bring Durga back into the fold are the funniest part of Mrs Undercover. He surprises her by showing up in odd places wearing disguises that don’t fool anyone.

Sadly, that’s it as far as the laughs go. The dialogue is uninspired, as far as I could tell. Only the Hindi words are subtitled, with the rest reading “???Bengali.” The action scenes are forgettable, too.

That’s because the point of Mrs Undercover isn’t to entertain, but to educate. Somber piano music plays whenever characters launch into heavy-handed speeches about how housewives are special and should be treated with respect. Religious references abound, such as naming the main character Durga and lauding women for managing their households as though they have ten hands.

I’m not sure who writer-director Anushree Mehta is trying to persuade. It’s not like men who look down on women don’t realize they do so. Durga’s husband Dev isn’t a controlling jerk by accident. When Dev’s mother (played by Laboni Sarkar) tries to convince him to allow Durga more freedom, it’s as though Mom has only just realized that her married adult son with whom she lives is sexist.

The characters feel like they came into being just before the events of the film, to serve the purposes of the screenplay. This is especially true in the case of a woman who is one of The Common Man’s accomplices. Why would she agree to help a man who is literally murdering women for refusing to be subservient? We’ll never know, because Durga shoots her before she can explain herself.

Mrs Undercover opens the door to all kinds of feminist issues, only to abandon them or treat them in a simplistic way. Durga joins a Women’s Empowerment group at a local college, and most of the attendees express a desire to start their own businesses. The men running the group instead teach them a choreographed dance routine.

Because the film addresses issues at such a surface level, it doesn’t even realize that movie’s the ultimate message to women is that it isn’t enough to be “just a housewife.” Durga saves the day using skills she learned as a special agent, not abilities she picked up once she started her family. Were she to have succeeded using those skills, the movie might have made a point about all women’s work deserving respect.

The ending assumes that justice is best served via eye-for-an-eye physical retribution meted out individually. Even then, it’s up to women to do the dirty work themselves while men stand and watch. That’s not catharsis. It’s more forced labor for women that absolves men of the work of holding other men accountable. Who does Mrs Undercover think will find this satisfying?

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Streaming Video News: April 14, 2023

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I updated my list of Bollywood movies on Netflix because the Kartik Aaryan/Kriti Sanon-starrer Shehzada is now available for streaming, as is the Tamil film Kannai Nambathey.

I also updated my list of Bollywood movies on Amazon Prime because all episodes of Season 1 of the Hindi series Jubilee are now streaming, as is the Kannada film Kabzaa.

Lastly, the comic thriller Mrs. Undercover — starring Radhika Apte — debuted yesterday on Zee5.

[Disclaimer: my Amazon links include an affiliate tag, and I may earn a commission on purchases made via those links. Thanks for helping to support this website!]