It’s been a tradition in Hollywood, the annual spate of Christmas films, mostly reiterating the message of family bonding. Change the setting to India, the festival to Diwali, and the formula is passed on in Radhika Bansal’s film, Meethe Mein Kya Hai (on Netflix).
After the death of his wife in a car crash, Jai (Ritwik Bhowmik) has withdrawn into a shell. He has severed contact with his family, and is on the verge of moving to Georgia. An SOS from his sister, Sana (Dalai), forces him to go to his maternal grandmother’s home in Lucknow, where the clan has gathered for Diwali. He flinches at the family’s solemnity when he first lands, and then their wish to set him up with a suitable woman.
There’s the matriarch Saba Rastogi (Rohini Hattangady), Jai’s parents, Amrita (Ayesha Raza Mishra) and Ajay (Gaurav K. Sharma), his uncle and aunt (Abhay Kaul, Tarana Raja), their son (Ayuushman Ghai), and a neigbourhood kid, Meera (Shivika Rishi), crashing in the huge mansion, while her mother is travelling.
It isn’t such a bombshell, but everybody is horrified when the always troublesome Sana turns up with a husband Karam (Vikram Bakshi), who is a divorcee with a kid (Kiarra Chouhan). A few years ago, it would probably have been a Muslim, but the way things are now, everybody objecting to him would be politically incorrect.
Nothing much happens, except for the feasting and playing cards and Amrita getting over her hurt and the way Sana got married. Her children want Saba to sell the unmanageably lavish haveli and move in with her son, but Nani is obviously unwilling to relocate.
While the drama over the unexpected entry of the sweet-natured Karam into their lives is short-lived, there is a flimsy subplot about 13-year-old Meera having a crush on 35-year-old Jai, which, she not just understands but also processes the inevitable heartbreak. There was potential for a small coming-of-age track here, which is overlooked in favour of the mandatory gathering of relatives—the elderly aunts who expect to be served hand and foot (one demands blowing on her tea to cool it), and random relatives crowding into the well-appointed parlour.
When Jai announces his imminent departure from the country, one knows, that by the end he will change his mind—no spoiler there. The warm embrace of the chattering Indian family is all that is needed to mend a broken heart or heal a grieving soul.
Unlike the more sombre Gulmohar (2023), this one is mostly frothy – no skeletons pop of the family closet, no problem is unsolvable. Meethe Mein Kya Hai is a pleasant festive watch, with fine performances all round.