Mentalhood Review: A Little Imbalanced Writing, Karisma Kapoor Was And Is At The Top Of Her Game, Dino Morea Is To Watch Out For

Web show - Mentalhood

Director - Karishma Kohli

Actors - Karisma Kapoor, Sanjay Suri, Dino Morea, Shilpa Shukla, Tillotama Shome, Shruti Seth, Sandhya Mridul

Rated - 3 out of 5

“If we don’t let our children listen to Bach and Beethoven when they are growing up, we are hindering their growth!?” This idea in ALTBalaji’s new web show Mentalhood is a bit too far-fetched. Because firstly some of the viewers of ALTBalaji won’t even know what ‘these’ are!

Karisma Kapoor’s new web series is a lovely take on motherhood. (I don’t like using the word comeback, because of two reasons, 1. It is a bit too overused these days and 2. The word is used out of context)

Okay, coming back to the show, it is about mothers who have different backgrounds, different thought processes and different behaviour patterns and mood swings. Karisma Kapoor is Meira, a mother of three kids who has recently shifted from Kanpur to Mumbai and is yet to completely come to terms with the fast-paced and stylised lifestyle in the city.

It is so darn refreshing to see Karisma onscreen after such a long time. In fact, I couldn’t take my eyes off her and whenever she wasn’t there, I wanted to see more of her. She is such a predominant face on the screen that the others (even though they are pretty good) don’t seem to hold water in front of her.  And plus, she is looking so good in every frame!

Well, times have really moved, very fast. Karisma is a real-life mother now and no wonder, she plays the part of an imperfect mother who is discovering the complexities of motherhood and also figuring ways to deal with them in an adept manner.

Okay, now enough talking about Karisma, there are others too without whom the show wouldn’t be complete. They are Shilpa Shukla, Tillotama Shome, Sandhya Mridul, Shruti Seth, Sanjay Suri and Dino Morea!

Well yes, just like one of the dialogues in the show, Dino is “Iss oestrogen ki dukaan mein, the much-needed testosterone.” Not going too much into the warring SOBO mothers of school-children, who are baggage ridden and their only respite is the school of their children where they can show off their private possessions and riches and achievements (no matter how stupid and cheesy they are) to the other moms and brag about their superiority, there is Dino’s character who is a single father and is also one of those men in the story who understand the psyche of women resultantly all the women are drawn towards him. He looks good with almost every lady in the show. Not to forget, he was paired opposite Karisma in the 2003 film Baaz: A Bird in Danger, they looked good as a pair in that one and they look good together in this as well. He looks the part and plays it with a benign attitude which is much needed for the character. Sanjay Suri on the other hand for some strange reason, kind of looked emaciated. He plays his part of a detached yet attached father wonderfully though!

Sandhya Mridul plays a mother who is hell-bent on proving that she is the best in whatever she does. She has a baggage of her own but she doesn’t want that to come out rather wants to out every secret she knows about the other moms in her circle. She overdoes it at times but I guess that’s what her character demands! Tillotama Shome is a mother who has to deal with a bullying husband and her unruly sons (the result of what they see in their father). She plays the part wonderfully who takes a stand for herself in the face of jeopardy.

Shilpa Shukla’s character is quite intriguing. She plays a CEO mom with a loving husband, who also has a secret. She is a power-mom but whenever anyone touches her raw nerve, she crumbles like a mountain of sand. She plays her part in a way that I couldn’t imagine anyone else playing it. She is so good at it. Her stance, her poise, everything is just to the T.

Coming to the writing part of it. It was LOPSIDED! Well, moms are important, they have perhaps the most crucial role to play in bringing up a child. They have to play against all odds, sacrifice a lot, have sleepless nights, tend to every little demand of the child especially (when the father is not there which happens mostly in this show) or the father is a mere puppet and considers himself a faulty piece and hence is always subservient and fawning to his wife or the father is abusive and is more than a male chauvinist pig! Also, it is not always necessary that whatever the child sees in his or her father, he will she will imbibe that, in this case, when the children see the father literally strong-arming the mother, they imbibe that characteristic and become school bullies themselves. They could've imbibed the characteristics of their mother and become meek and gentle as well or perhaps even would have become the ones to be preyed upon.

Hahahahaha… well yes, that is the reaction that this show and its lopsided writing elicited from me at times. Well, these are so overused motifs in web shows and even in films these days! Not all men are that way. Unfortunately, the makers of the show happen to see or perhaps interact with women who have such husbands or with men who are that way.

Trust me I am a man myself and I wouldn’t really treat my wife (who would-be) like a piece of dirt neither would I take her for granted, nor would I feel I am worthless and hence it would be the final call of my wife, no matter what. As much as I would respect my wife, I would respect myself too! And now, (if in case anyone reads and feels, oh it’s his male-ego speaking and all that jazz) well, no this isn’t egotistic and I am not even going there. The problem herein lies in the fact that these words, these terms are so overused that the people don’t realise how these words imply a lot more than what is known about them and in the sense, they are used colloquially! Lets not now get into the Id, Ego and Super-ego bit of things and the psychoanalysis of Freud or Lacan’s radical critique of the ego-psychology!

So no, Mentalhood makers! Well, this isn’t any ego-trip, I am on. Reality is, all men are not that way and neither the ratio of the ‘good’ men versus the ‘not-so-good’ men so disproportionate!

So, that’s it, I would say, Mentalhood is a good way to pass your time, just watch out for Karisma Kapoor, Dino Morea and Sanjay Suri in the series and also the other cast. They are all fabulous but yes, the writing could be a little more symmetric!