Mom Trailer Finds Sridevi Again In Peak Form

When  it comes to Sridevi adjectives and superlatives begin to pale and fail.

In the trailer of her eagerly awaited new film Mom that opens on July 4, she is  seen at the peak of her  performing power , furnishing an intensity and a  heft far beyond what one expects in a film about the mother-daughter relationship.

The trailer  which released on Saturday is swathed in mystery. We know nothing about the plot except that it is  a mother-daughter story and for a  change there are pretty strong male characters in this chick flick. Nawazuddin Siddiqui(he plays a sleazeball named DK),Akshaye Khanna and Adnan Siddiqui leave a strong impact in the little that they are given to do in the trailer.

Nawaz, the chameleon  of an  actor, is seen in prosthetics  for the first time. His balding pate and buck teeth stand out , as does his confrontation scene with Sridevi where she cynically tells Nawaz, “God can’t be everywhere.”

“That’s  why he created the Mother,” retorts Nawaz.

It remains to be see how far this mother is willing to break the rules for her daughter’s sake. As expected there  many moments of warm kinship between the one-and-only Sridevi and her screen daughter played by Sajal Ali. They reminded me  of Waheeda Rehman andSridevi  in Yash Chopra’s Lamhe.

But the trailer gives nothing away as to the cause of the friction and drama  between the mother and daughter.Who are the bad guys and who are the good guys in Mom? The trailer withholds  this information.

What we can say with utmost certainty is that Sridevi delivers yet another powerhouse performance.As Mom  to a teenage daughter she looks ten years younger than her real age and ten times wiser than any mother put in a situation of crisis that seems to demand cunning and  intuition.

Debutant director  Ravi Udyawar seems to have handled the  incredibly talented  star-actress without keeling over in awe. The  narrative has a balanced ,even and unostentatious  feel to it. Momlooks like another winner for the mighty Sridevi.

Trailer rating: *** ½(3 and a half stars)