SVF Films

Cheeni: A bittersweet story of a mother and a daughter

As children, we often notice our differences from our parents. Sometimes our chain of thoughts may become so different that we have no choice but to blame the generational gap. Despite all that, the bond between a mother and her children is resilient, synergistic and pure of heart as portrayed by the movie, ‘Cheeni’.

Chandrika a.k.a Cheeni is an independent copywriter at a firm who left home due to an abusive experience in her household. However, with her mother’s deteriorating health and increasing complications in her life, Cheeni is forced to return home to her mother with whom she does not see eye to eye. 

Just like many other typical Bengali homes, the mothers and the daughters differ in terms of perspective, thoughts, and culture. As a result of these differences, Mishti has developed a new sense of being and independence after spending so many years alone after the death of her husband. The 50-year-old lady starts to act child-like while Cheeni is forced to play the role of a cranky mother. The reversal in role becomes too much for Cheeni since she never liked to be at home in the first place. Her father was abusive and both Mishti and Cheeni were a victim of him. But instead of confronting him, the two women used to shed their miseries on each other, and hence, the distance between the two. 

Throughout the movie, we get to see Cheeni discover the challenges of her mother, while Mishti understands the feelings of her daughter when they realise that the story of their lives was not one about a mother versus her daughter but instead a story about an abusive husband/father versus the mother and the daughter together. 

Mainak Bhaumik wrote the story with the realism of a typical Bengali family in mind. The dialogues are written with greater emphasis on getting the right mixture of comedy and seriousness like most other West Bengal films. It is good to see the frankness in the acting of Aparajita Adhya in her mother role. Specifically, her acting portrayed the quintessential Bengali mother and showcased how the quarrels that keep happening between a mother and her child and again gets mitigated eventually. This relationship gives the exposure the movie needed for the plot, and it was rightly delivered. 

I am fond of West Bengal’s music production and Cheeni’s music production by SVF is no different. The song “Tomar Chokhet Shitolpati” is one of the best Bangla songs I have heard recently. It too added a nice touch to the movie. 

Overall, the movie showcases the pure bond between a mother and her daughter, and no matter what, a daughter’s love for her mother and a mother’s care for her daughter can never fade away. Moreover, we get to learn a lot through their different emotions portrayed throughout the movie. A simple movie with a feel-good ending like ‘Cheeni’ is worth watching once in a while. The names Cheeni and Mishti for the two central characters were well-justified given the sweet ending of the story.