Shrimati review: Despite sincere message about self-love, this drama is a one-time watch

Director Arjunn Dutta’s Shrimati is the story of a homemaker who rediscovers her identity while dealing with bullies. Dutta’s previous film, Guldasta (2020), narrated the story of three women, who bond over their loneliness and uplift each other. Shrimati, on the other hand, is dedicated to the women who are more at ease at home but not quite exposed to public life.

Shrimati Chatterjee (Swastika Mukherjee) is happily married and a passionate cook. She serves lavish three-course meals every day, takes care of all the needs of her family members and in her leisure time, she experiments with new recipes inspired by her neighbour Rewa Di (Debjani Chatterjee), a food writer.

Shrimati begins to experience self-doubt when a colleague of her husband (Soham Chakraborty), Mrs Sen (Barkha Bisht), indirectly criticizes her culinary efforts and calls the food unhealthy while having dinner at their place. A few days later, she gets invited to a party hosted by Mrs Sen, who brutally mocks Shrimati for her choice of attire and forces her to drink alcohol.

After experiencing a severe anxiety attack, Shrimati is comforted by her in-laws; however, everyone, except her husband, pushes her to reinvent herself physically. Shrimati gets into a frenzy of self-grooming to put up a certain image, only to find herself drowning in self-deception.

The loving stay-at-home mother and wife begins to feel vulnerable and threatened in an environment where she cannot spontaneously emulate the mannerisms of professional and corporate women. Though the sequences of her getting mocked by other women rather appear childish and come out of the blue, the film successfully addresses Shrimati's internal conflicts.

Shrimati’s husband loves her for who she is and cherishes their bond. When she gets humiliated, he shares her grief but doesn’t really stand up to his colleagues. Rather, he waits for Shrimati to realize what makes her special and serves as her anchor when she confesses to losing herself in her attempts to impress.

While Dutta has clearly etched out Shrimati’s narrative, his somewhat insensitive comical take on the marital bond between a young woman and elderly man, and the portrayal of women who suddenly go from being unnecessarily cruel to turning appreciative of the target of their scorn are a letdown.

Mukherjee owns her vulnerable character, who is a far cry from the actress's public persona. She breathes life into Shrimati, who eventually faces her own demons and begins to embrace herself with all her special attributes and shortcomings.

Chakraborty is quite refreshing as the mature and supportive husband.

It takes time to adjust to Supratim Bhol’s shaky camerawork but he conveys how Shrimati operates during busy mornings with ease. Sujay Datta Ray's editing complements the cinematography to a great extent.

Soumya Rit’s background score celebrates femininity in all shades throughout the film. The song 'Shon Shon' by Somlata Acharyya Chowdhury and the accompanying visuals beautifully convey the poignant epiphany experienced by Shrimati.

The film initially seems frivolous but in the second half, as Shrimati gets out of her comfort zone to accept greater challenges and faces her insecurities, we begin to connect with her.

Shrimati is a strictly one-time watch solely because of its sincere message about the importance of self-love.