Director: Ashima Chibber
Writers: Sameer Satija, Ashima Chibber, Rahul Handa
Cast: Rani Mukerji, Anirban Bhattacharya, Jim Sarbh
You know how some inspired-by-real-events movies are so sharp and compelling that, as a viewer, you stop caring about the authenticity – the creative licences – of the narrative? You tend to understand that the calibration of storytelling is sometimes necessary to express the essence of life. Some elements are dialled up, while others are edited without compromising on the overall truth. There are plenty of modern-day examples: Spotlight (2015), Talvar (2015), Neerja (2016) and most recently, Trial by Fire (2023). Mrs. Chatterjee Vs Norway, directed by Ashima Chibber, is certainly not that film. In fact, it’s the exact opposite – the film is so loud and overstated that, as a viewer, you stop caring about the creative concessions of the narrative. The research (or lack of it) doesn’t really matter anymore. Every human is reduced to a character, and every character to a conflict. The curiosity about the people involved only extends to the (melo)drama of their circumstances: Nothing more, nothing less.
Mrs. Chatterjee Vs Norway is based on a book called ‘The Journey of a Mother’ by Sagarika Chakraborty, an Indian immigrant whose children were taken by the Norwegian Child Welfare Services (Barnevernet) in 2011 on grounds of improper treatment. The woman’s agonising two-year journey – which included a widely-publicised intervention from India’s Ministry of External Affairs, as well as a court battle with both the Norwegian government and her husband’s family – is the subject of this film. Her name is Debika Chatterjee (Rani Mukerji) here, her husband is Aniruddha (Anirban Bhattacharya), and Barnevernet has been rechristened Velfred. It’s a story ripe with sociocultural strife. There is inherent scope to investigate not just the discriminatory loopholes of ‘First World’ systems, but also the dysfunctionality of South Asian parenting. Both sides are complicit in some ways, yet neither is held accountable by a film that refuses to dwell on subtext. There are indications of a child welfare scam, but no deeper awareness of it. At some points, you feel like siding with the authorities for rescuing the kids from volatile parents and a toxic marriage. But the distinctly desi trait of painting an underdog protagonist – by any means possible – robs the story of nuance and difficult contradictions.