'Maa Behen': Madhuri Dixit, Triptii Dimri on Playing Powerful Women, and the Perception of the Modern Single Female

Suresh Triveni’s upcoming dark-comedy Maa Behen centers on a hilariously chaotic trio, brought to life by the three women in film who have either defined a cinematic era or are shaping the one we are in now. Madhuri Dixit, Triptii Dimri, and Dharna Durga, bring an unconventional, imperfect, and deeply real mother-daughter dynamic to life which makes us reflect on how society views the single, modern woman.

Even though Dixit has always played a powerful female lead, she expresses that she was thankful for this role because playing Rekha would be something completely different.

“I have always worked in films where women play a powerful role,” said Dixit at the trailer launch of the film that will premiere June 4 on Netflix, adding that it is not only her character, but all the women in the project that have incredibly powerful roles.  

“It is a dysfunctional family, and no one is perfect,” she said, stating this is to be true for her character too.

“She lives in a society where single mothers are seen differently. Society judges her. She is a very modern and progressive woman, but living in such a society, she has adopted a survival instinct, and she will do anything for her daughters,” Dixit explained. “That is the character I am very thankful to be playing.”

“I couldn’t move. I couldn’t breathe. I was just like this is the best narration of my life. You can’t put in one genre. It’s everything. And when you watch the women, you realise it,” added Dimri, who’s views around how women are portrayed in the film have been largely shaped by her own childhood experiences with her mother and other women she was surrounded by.

“We are very quick to judge. Especially when it comes to women,” Dimri added. The actress feels that women are often put in a bracket and are held to certain roles and responsibilities whether that be in film or real life.

“If she [a mother] is sick even for a day and hasn’t been able to cook or do anything that she is usually able for the family, we would always complain. And now that we have grown up, and now when she shares her struggle stories with us, it just brings tears to my eyes because how have we not managed to see this human side of her earlier?” she expresses.

She also recalls two women from her childhood community who lived without partners or parents. “They were a little fashionable for those times,” she says, stating that people around them would say, 'You can’t go to them. Don’t be friends with them, and don’t go near their house; it’s dangerous.'"

"It stayed with me somewhere. And when Maa Behen came along, it was the image of those two girls that I had in my mind,” says Dimri, expressing that it was then that she knew she had to be part of this film.

Having prominent social media influence that precedes her acting career, one would think Durga doesn’t really feel the pressure of being on the big screen. However, “I’m the kind of a person who feels the pressure in every situation,” she says. “Maybe I overthink because of it, but I feel like it’s a good kind of a pressure. And it should be there I feel. You should take a look at your own performance and judge whether you’re right or wrong.”