Madhuri Dixit’s mission appears to have been to look glamorous, which she does while others struggle to keep the film together, observes Deepa Gahlot.

Here’s another movie that competes in the wakeness race and stumbles right after the starting gun goes off.

Maya momdirected by Anand Tiwari from Sumit Bhateja’s screenplay, has taken a sizzling idea and turned it into a wet squib.

Perhaps a real exploration of the serenity of India’s “happy family” middle class would reveal too many lives of quiet desperation, so why go there when a skimming of the surface could only please OTT viewers and also reveal the liberal credentials of the makers.

Maya mom takes place in a town in Gujarat dandy Time when the Vrindavan Society reigns garba Queen Pallavi Patel (Madhuri Dixit) is ready to dazzle.

Their US-based son Tejas (Ritwick Bhowmik), who is in love with NRI Princess Esha Hansraj (Barkha Singh), wants to introduce the Patels to the snooty Hansrajs to ask for their approval.

Meanwhile, in the Patel home, there is some friction over daughter Tara (Srishti Shrivastava), who is separated from her husband to pursue a PhD in gender studies while flying the LGBTQIA+ flag with her “heterosexual privilege,” as one transgender puts it pans .

A young local deer wants to take over the presidency of Pallavi’s husband Manohar (Gajraj Rao) with the help of his cohorts. It’s not that this position is that important to destroy someone’s life, but let that pass.

Esha’s parents Bob (Rajit Kapoor) and Pam (Sheeba Chaddha) arrive with noses up and fake American accents to experience the authenticity of Indian life.

A secret from Pallavi’s past is revealed in a very contrived way – to mention what it is would be spoilers.

The video goes viral and suddenly everyone freaks out and moans about their reputation.

The Tejas-Esha engagement is on the brink of breaking up, Manohar becomes the laughingstock of the neighborhood, and the Patels face some sort of social boycott.

Pallavi goes through the rest of the film with a grumpy face, but always perfectly dressed up and made up (even when she’s asleep).

Tara’s husband (Malhar Thakar) and his in-laws (Simone Singh-Ninad Kamat) show up unresponsive to the bomb dropped in Patel’s backyard.

What follows is neither humorous nor tragic or even remotely dramatic.

It’s easy to ridicule the Hansraj couple’s hypocrisy by turning them into caricatures (before Pam touches the food being served, she wants to know that it was touched by a menstruating woman!).

Manohar, the only one with the right to feel betrayed, sets out on a quest for aphrodisiacs with the help of Tara’s father-in-law, who was just crying over his wife’s cancer.

Tara does it about herself because it gives her some credibility, but for all her talking she’s just as ignorant and insensitive as the rest of them.

Even more incredible is that Tejas does some internet research and comes up with one jhad-phook Exorcist as a solution to the problem.

But that’s the level of the film’s humor, like Manohar, who doesn’t know the meaning of the word “virgin” and proudly declares that her son and the whole family are virgins. (Just one of the many facepalm moments).

The Hansraj couple, whose blood vessels were almost bursting with outrage, happily go to the picnic with the Patels and their in-laws.

Bob’s answer to every doubt is a lie detector test, although why a woman intent on telling the truth would submit to him at all is a mystery.

The film fails to continue the storyline of Pallavi’s predicament (if you can even call it that) without seriously affecting one of the main characters.

So everyone has some sort of individual revelation, there’s a heart-to-heart talk or two, and then the status at the end Quo is serviced. Not even a splash in the happy family pond!

The bottom line is that if the woman remains a “good” housewife and men in the family support her, all is well and good dandy can resume.

The actors are competent enough.

Gajraj Rao, Sheeba Chaddha and Simone Singh get a few scenes to shine in.

Madhuri Dixit’s brief seems to have been to look glamorous in what she does while others struggle to keep the film together.

Maya mom Stream on Amazon Prime Video.

Maya mom Rediff rating: