Badhaai Do To Maja Ma: The Much-Needed Guarded Presence Of Sheeba Chadha

Over the last decade, things have been quite unpredictable for the Hindi film industry. The tipping point was when Neena Gupta openly appealed for work on Instagram, and it has been a phenomenon in the notoriously unforgiving world of Hindi cinema. The stint added a fresh perspective on the veteran actors, even putting a spotlight on the relevance of supporting actors in a film. There's a different lens for how we look at films and their stories. Veterans artists like Gajraj Rao, Sheeba Chadha, Shefali Shah, Seema and Manoj Pahwa, Bajendra Kala and many more have uniquely created a space for themselves, adding a great sense of relevance to their characters.

From Bandish Bandits to Maja Ma, Chadha has been a pleasantly ubiquitous face on OTT platforms. The actor has this rare quality to eject her presence in the protagonist's lives, never tipping on being overwhelming but only leading strength to the storyline. She has time and again continues to prove her mettle as an actor which makes the not-so-significant character stand out among many nicely-written characters.

The significant omnipresence of Sheeba Chadha

Chadha has always been around, having worked in theatre and television. However, it took a while for the film industry to recognise her distinct talent. She has made her mark as a credible character artist, a woman her age, in an industry still fascinated with ‘young’ women in the lead. It was probably in 2015 when she gained recognition through Dum Laga Ke Haisha, where she played a bitter, unmarried aunt of Ayushmann Khurrana. Apart from working in films, Chadha is a regular face in multiple short format videos with TVF, Filter Copy and AIB. With the advent of OTT content, her omnipresence is burning and much-needed.

Some would remember her as Anupama, cousin to Aishwarya Rai's Nandini in Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam. Yes, the one who walks out of a marriage she is forced into and elopes with the man she loves, the actor is still pigeonholed in roles of mother or aunt. She has a few diverse roles recently to her credit such as a woman trapped in a patriarchal household in Bandish Bandits to a whimsical Mumtaz in Taj Mahal 1989. In an interview with " target="_blank" rel="noopener">SheThePeople, the actor candidly discussed her thoughts on the debate of ageism. He shared how the industry is still figuring out what and how to write for the age groups of 45, particularly for female actors.

Chadha imbues flesh and blood into the cardboard-like, image-conscious character of Pam Hansraj.

After the descent of 2021, Chadha's choice of roles has been beguilingly wise. In Pagglait, her performance of a wounded mother grieving the death of her son spoke volumes. She is trying to hold it together but is equally sympathetic to her young widowed daughter-in-law who is on the journey herself, attempting to “feel” the way she is supposed to. Her's was a difficult role to perform, but Chadha did it with so much so nuance adding layers of vulnerability.

In Badhaai Do, Chadha’s performance is equally warm and welcoming as it is hilarious. She also shares tips and tricks on how to be the perfect “wife” with her daughter-in-law Sumi (played by Bhumi Pednekar) to “fix” her marriage, while being in dark about her son's homosexuality. She is a deliciously bizarre on-screen parent: a socially uncomfortable anomaly who secretly sympathises with her son who is shackled by Indian society’s conventions. She, too, feels compelled to act in a certain manner and assert matriarchal dominance over her son. However, as seen later fails miserably to do so once her son Shardul (Rajkumaar Rao) comes out of his closet.

In the recently released Maja Ma, Chadha delivers a stirring portrayal of an exhausted wife but a loving mother. Chadha imbues flesh and blood into the cardboard-like, image-conscious character of Pam Hansraj. Maja Ma follows the story of a middle-aged mother. The latter is closely guarded about her sexual orientation and is soon tumbled out, threatening to spoil the prospects of the marriage of her son Tejas (Ritwik Bhowmik) with the daughter (Barkha Singh) of millionaire American-Indian parents. Chadha's outstanding performance during the lie detection test of Pallavi (Madhuri Dixit) enraptures the audience's attention and lays bare both her prejudice and her disgust at her husband's hypocrisy.

This new age of filmography for Chadha adds a guarded optimism to supporting women actors. She once spoke on how a vast improvement in the writing and a conscious effort by content creators to keep the pitch real, could make a difference. “We have, to a large extent, broken out of the typical hero-heroine-maa-villain kind of framework. There has been a shift in the storytelling, and when you are trying to create relatable and complex characters, then you have to cast a real face or a talent who can pull off the part. That has meant so much more work for actors who perhaps wouldn’t have been cast otherwise, and that’s great.” Like Chadha, we too are hopeful for the future of storytelling.

The views expressed are the author's own.

Suggested Reading: Badhai Do To Sharmaji Namkeen: Sheeba Chadha’s Acting Makes Us Feel At Home