Mrs Undercover Review: Radhika Apte Shines But Can't Save The Loose Plot

You've undoubtedly seen a number of movies about housewives up to this point, with Anupamaa—every housewife's hero—at the top of the list. Anushree Mehta has now created a housewife who, before getting married, trained as a special undercover agent and spent years 'waiting' before being given a top-secret assignment. She had aspirations of becoming Lady James Bond, but when she was eventually given a task, she wasn't ready to accept it. Can you guess why? If you've seen melodramas, which this movie has in spades, you probably guessed.

The spy-comedy starts off in West Bengal, where Sumeet Vyas is introduced as "Common Man," a serial killer who targets strong, independent women and has his own monologue about why he does it that seems extremely concerning. He murders women and then grabs their phones, which he uses to record confessional videos in which they admit their "sins" by assisting or empowering other women.

Mrs Undercover Review

Since we've seen so many thrillers and murder mysteries, anyone can find an opening in this. That is, despite the fact that the killer maintained contact with every victim of his, including the most recent, who admitted that they had been speaking for the previous week, the police are unable to identify him through the victim's phone records. Additionally, he murdered the victim in a public place, where it undoubtedly was caught on camera, if not him, at least by his car number. But no police force can catch him. Given that it is a spy comedy, you may not need to pay much attention to details while watching it, as I did.

The focus then shifts to the secret agency tracking down this dangerous criminal, and the common man even murders the last agent of the agency and uploads a video of it to challenge the secret agency to apprehend him.

Rajesh Sharma as Chief Rangeela and the head of the covert agency is asked to look through old records to see if any of their top agents are still alive. At this point, he chooses to get in touch with Durga, the character played by Radhika Apte. Up until this point, the plot's course has seemed fairly obvious, so you know where it is headed.

However, Apte's introduction scene, where she first appears as Durga, will really get you. In that scene, from an ordinary-looking Durga with her frizzy hair in a bun wearing a saree and stress in her eyes to Durga, the secret agent, who grows out her long, silky-smooth locks while wearing a black bodysuit and fighting with 15 goons alone. This instantaneous change ends up becoming a dream scenario.

The tone soon changes, and the comedy-thriller category of the movie starts to be justified. The story is told through the journey of Durga, a homemaker, and the successful completion of her first assignment.

The first 40 to 45 minutes of the film's 107 overall minutes are devoted to convincing Durga to accept the 'Common Man' assignment and return as a secret spy. When Rangeela initially offers Durga in one of the scenes, her response is extremely outstanding, humorous, and receptive all at once. She says, "Mere bete ka Unit test h 7 din me" before running off. The scene demonstrates how Durga, a spying agent, has entirely changed into a housewife over the course of these ten years.

While the parts between Sharma and Apte are humorous, you won't be willing to make it through the entire 45 minutes because it seems like the plot is moving too slowly and you finally know Durga will say yes, making you want to fast-forward a little bit, though I didn't. As the plot progresses, Durga is seen struggling to return to her former spy career while also fulfilling her responsibilities as a wife, mother, and bahu.

No scene will ever let you forget that she was once a middle-class housewife, thanks to the movie's setting, dialogue, or sequences. You'll see everything a middle-class housewife experiences on a daily basis, including a patriarchal spouse with a narrow mindset and wide man ego. Speaking about Saheb Chatterjee's portrayal of Durga's Pati, the movie ruthlessly exposes the prejudice and sexism that prevail in marriages across the country.

Suggested Reading: There Is No Such Thing As “Just” A Housewife

In one of the scenes, where she tells him she wants to earn, he says that if she is bored and has nothing to do, he may get her pregnant once more to keep her occupied. The movie later also depicts how he has an extramarital affair and defends it by claiming that he is a man and it's no big deal; he says, "I'm a man, ho jata hai". To which his wife Durga asks, what if she was in that situation and she had an affair? This "woman hai, hojata hai" thing would have justified the deed. The movie asks the right questions at the right time and answers them at the right time.

Performances:

What works well is the performance, and Apte once again delivers a powerful performance. Being excellent performers, Sharma and Vyas performed well in whatever role they were given. Plus, the movie makes an effort to serve as a timely reminder that it is time to acknowledge, appreciate, and empower housewives while showing the complex web of sexism and misogyny that exists behind closed doors.

The film's weak and predictable premise, the way secret spies are presented, and the fighting scenes—though Apte pulls them off—look sloppily staged, didn't sit right with me. Lastly, I didn't like the climax sequence, in which Durga and the Common Man face off. It's poorly executed, too dramatic and seems unimpressive.

Finally, the movie concludes, leaving you confused about whether to take the film seriously or view it as a spoof.

Watch the trailer ">here.

Views expressed by the author are their own