Mala Aai Vhhaychy!
Mala Aai Vhhaychy! ([mlaː aːiː ʋɦaːjtʃj], transl. I Want To Be A Mother!) is a Marathi language Indian film produced and directed by Samruoddhi Porey. The story deals with growing surrogacy practices in India where women are used as surrogates by foreigners. The film is an emotional drama telling the story of one such surrogate mother who bears a foreigner's child.[1]
| Mala Aai Vhhaychy! | |
|---|---|
 Poster | |
| Directed by | Samruoddhi Porey |
| Produced by | Samruoddhi Porey |
| Written by | Samruoddhi Porey |
| Music by | Ashok Patki |
| Cinematography | Rahul Jadhav |
| Edited by | Deven Murudeshwar |
Release date |
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| Country | India |
| Language | Marathi |
The film is critically acclaimed and won National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Marathi in 2011.[2] It was remade in 2013 in Telugu as Welcome Obama ,[3] with Urmila Kanitkar again playing the role of Yashoda.
The film would be remade in Hindi as Mimi, directed by Laxman Utekar and produced by Dinesh Vijan.
Plot
Mary comes looking to India for a surrogate mother to bear a child. She finds a poor woman Yashoda who accepts the offer. Yashoda gets pregnant successfully. But during her pregnancy, doctors inform Mary & Yashoda that due to some complications the child would probably be born with disabilities. Mary decides to quit through this and leaves India. Yashoda begs her to not leave. But she is then left alone with a child in her womb. Few years later Mary loses her patience and decided to come back and look for her child.
The film shows the story in legal and emotional perspective of who should the child be with; his surrogate mother who raised him or his mother who has the blood relation with him.
Cast
- Urmila Kanetkar as Yashoda
- Stacy Bee as Mary
- Samruoddhi Porey as Nanda
- Aiden Barkely as Madhav
- Vivek Raut as Ganpath
- Sulbha Deshpande as Sindhu tai
- Askhay Deshpande
- Shreya Porey
- Suchitra Bandekar
- Matt Ridder
- Rupali Modak
- Atul Bhardwaj
- Sandip Rajput
- Ronit Malode
- Srushti Porey
- Shubhankar Raut
- Nakshatra Rajgire
- sumit ghom
Production
The writer-director-producer of the film, Samruoddhi Porey is a practicing lawyer in Bombay High Court. The story of the film is based on one of the surrogacy cases she came across.
The film completed its shooting in the rural areas near Melghat-Chikhaldara of Amravati district in Maharashtra.[4]
Aiden Barkely, who plays the role of a 4 year old surrogate child hails from Washington DC. He was selected for the role because of his blonde looks and was then tutored in Marathi, especially the Warhadi dialect. Aiden's father Matt also appears in the film. Matt and his spouse confirmed that Aiden himself was a surrogate child born in India and they were back in India to have their second surrogate child when Porey noticed Aiden and approached them for the role.[4]
Awards and recognition
The film won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Marathi. The film was also selected to be shown to President Obama by President Pratibha Patil.[5]
Soundtrack
The music of the film is composed by Ashok Patki on lyrics written by Samruoddhi Porey. Kunal Ganjawala and Vaishali Samant have sung the songs.[5]
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References
- Pallavi Kharade (20 February 2011). "Medical-based films take centre stage in Marathi cinema". DNA India. Retrieved 22 December 2011.
- "58th National Film Awards, 2010" (PDF).
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qr4Z-HS_GoU
- "American child actor surprises with fluent Marathi". Deccan Herald. Retrieved 22 December 2011.
- Priyanka Jain (11 November 2010). "Obama watches Mala Aai Vhhaychy". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 22 December 2011.