We Are Family

The Stepmom remake does not find resonance in the context of Indian nuclear families.

This movie is about how a human family sometimes sees it genetically advantageous to behave like elephant society. A baby elephant is looked after by a group of ‘aunts’ who may or may not be related to each other. This helps the infant survive without the mother’s constant presence, and so, in a species with a long gestation period, the herd can thrive. 

The large male in We Are Family, a tusker called Aman (Arjun Rampal) who is responsible for three of the matriarch’s offspring, is now dating an unrelated female of the Indian herd in Australia. This disturbs mother Maya (Kajol) for a while and she stomps her displeasure. But after being diagnosed with terminal cancer, she sees the biological advantage of  Shreya (Kareena) taking care of her young—and invites the competition to move in.

Biology is all very well on National Geographic, but in a movie, it kills the romance, passion, jealousy and all the dramatic churning that a live-in girlfriend in your ex-wife’s home ought to generate. As soon as Maya formally invites Shreya in for coffee, tea or hubby, you can forget about the tell-tale lingerie across the floor, the hurling of priceless china across the living room. Instead, we have Maya throwing a fit because Shreya has forgotten her daughter’s allergy to peanut butter. It’s bedtime for Bonzo.

Stepmom, the original Hollywood film on which this is based, pressed all the right buttons in the American nuclear family context, but this movie is Indian-Australian and, as a tribe, we have an extended herd of relatives on call, beaver eager to play stepmom.

The only moment of entertainment in the film is when the trio dance to Jailhouse Rock. This is vintage stuff and Rampal can really shake a leg. As Baloo says when he speaks of King Louie’s rhythm in Walt Disney’s Jungle Book: “Man, what a beat!”

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