Mother Teresa & Me Review: The tale of two women

'Mother Teresa And Me' falls short of providing an immersive experience

Film: Mother Teresa & Me

Cast: Jacqueline Fritschi-Cornaz, Banita Sandhu, Deepti Naval, Heer Kaur, Shobu Kapoor

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Director: Kamal Musale

This is about the journey of two women in different timelines with a parallel narrative who end up in Kolkata. This is about their zealousness to achieve what they are exploring for. This is about life. The journey. One journey is that of Mother Teresa in India and the other is about Kavita, a young British woman of Indian origin.

The story beings in pre-independent India during the Week on Long Knives in Calcutta. You have a nun (Jacqueline Fritschi-Cornaz) looking for food for 300 starving girls in her convent. She knows she should not be out there in the midst of riots and it is not safe for her, but duty calls. A Muslim tries to kill her. A Hindu kills the man trying to kill the nun. The police arrive and chase away the Hindu. A constable tells the nun that she must not be out there.

She tells the constable that her name is Teresa, Mother Teresa and she will not return until she has food for the children in the convent. Fast forward to the present. You have Kavita (Banita Sandhu), raised from a young age in London, playing a violin with a troupe and she meets with an accident on the way back home. She is informed that she is pregnant. The father of the child, Paul (Jack Gordon) is not man enough to accept the child. Kavita’s parents have searched for a match for her in their community.

Kavita is miffed at the proceedings and heads to Calcutta and reaches Deepali (Deepti Naval), her mom’s friend to have some time off. It is thanks to Deepali that Kavita visits Nirmal Hriday and begins to see life in a new light. The rest of the story is a parallel narrative of the story of the Mother’s struggles in Calcutta and that of a journey of self-discovery of Kavita. To reveal more would be an injustice.

The narrative is a juxtaposition of the story and struggle of the Mother and Kavita. Jacqueline does a brilliant job of essaying the Mother. Banita Sandhu as a conflicted young woman brings out her best. It is refreshing to see Deepti Naval on screen and as usual, she leaves an impact. The drawback of the 122-minute narrative is that it fails to carry the intensive tone set at the premise. Though both women struggle, one fails to see how the stories are connected to draw parallels.

Director Kamal Musale could have done wonders but stopped short of delivering a masterpiece for reasons best known to him. Watch it for something new and different. Watch it to appreciate life.