Harman Baweja on Mrs criticism: ‘The reaction is coming from patriarchal conditioning

Producer Harman Baweja, who is set to roll Boy from Andaman soon, on how he is impressed by the film’s executive producer and International Emmy winner Richie Mehta’s conviction

It’s easy to notice Harman Baweja’s contentment when we connect with him over a call. It probably comes from the love pouring in for the producer’s recent release, Mrs. Or from the fact that he is set to take Boy from Andaman, a movie with executive producer Richie Mehta, on floors in a few months. In their maiden collaboration, Mehta, creator of the International Emmy-winning Delhi Crime, and Poacher (2024), has evidently bowled him over. 

“He is a phenomenal filmmaker,” starts Baweja. “My biggest takeaway from working with him has been his conviction and clarity of thought. I want to find that in every director I work with. It’s important for a director to have a clear vision,” he says. Boy from Andaman will be helmed by first-time director Parinaz Lal, and follows a Mumbai post office worker, who discovers a letter addressed to God from a young tsunami survivor in the Andaman Islands.

Sanya Malhotra in Mrs

According to Baweja, Mrs director Arati Kadav shares Mehta’s clarity of vision. Telling the story of a new bride whose life becomes confined to kitchen duties after marriage, the Sanya Malhotra-starrer —an adaptation of Malayalam film The Great Indian Kitchen (2021)—is winning praise from the audience for its accurate depiction of patriarchal mindsets of Indian households. A section of viewers, however, has criticised the drama, claiming it threatens the institution of marriage and Indian family values. 

Baweja, who has co-written the film with Anu Singh Choudhary, points out that the resistance too comes from patriarchal conditioning. “The thing about patriarchy is that you don’t know better because you’ve been taught this is how things are supposed to be. This [reaction] is coming from that conditioning itself,” he says, adding that it takes generations for conditioning to change. “How you see what your mothers have been through, the next generation will look at you and say, ‘We are here because our mothers went through it.’ It all takes time because it’s generational. Today, we can say we have evolved, but when my kids grow up, they will question [some aspect of our behaviour]. There is always room for growth. Every little seed that is sown—whether it’s experiences, movies, articles, or watching other people who are slightly ahead of the curve—combines to create an evolution.”

Before its release, Mrs had sparked controversy, when the credits of the creative team, barring Kadav’s, were missing from the trailer’s slate. “That error was rectified right away. The film speaks about empowerment. Everyone involved in the team would never want to take away from that,” he says.

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