Sui Dhaaga - Made in India

Mauji works in a shop. He does whatever the owner says; if he is told to dance on a stage he dances and everyone laughs. His wife Mamta sees it and says one thing: leave that job. Mauji's family are tailors; his father put the sewing machine away in a corner years ago. Mauji gets it out. He tries to set up on his own. There is no credit, no customers, and his family objects. Mamta stands by him; she organises the work. Then a competition comes up and it emerges that a large brand has been copying. Sharat Katariya writes and directs. Varun Dhawan plays Mauji and Anushka Sharma plays Mamta; Raghubir Yadav and Yamini Das are in the cast. The language is Hindi. The matter it treats is dignity; the film puts not poverty but humiliation at its centre. The narrative does not leave the woman passive; Mamta makes most of the decisions. The film shows handwork and the tailor's trade in detail. The narrative works a theme of home production directly and comes close to the language of a campaign. The family scenes are its best side; the crowded house and the daily friction are realistic. Varun Dhawan and Anushka Sharma play against their usual parts here. The ending rests on a fashion show and moves away from realism. Its limit is predictability; the narrative is conventional, the ending too tidy, and the message explicit. Who it is for: viewers who like Indian family drama and stories of small lives. Who it is not for: it is conventional, didactic, and the ending easy.