Film: "Sui Dhaaga: Made In India"; Director: Sharat Katariya; Cast: Varun Dhawan, Anushka Sharma, Raghubir Yadav and Namit Das; Rating: **1/2
All without doubt, "Sui Dhaaga" is a sweet, warm-hearted and inspirational film set in the world of working class India. It is a formulaic, feel-good film portraying the travails of a self-made entrepreneur.
Made with simplicity that would appeal to the downtrodden, the film seems pretty firmly aimed at this segment and below. It portrays the difficulties in the real world and sows the seeds of self-employment or entrepreneurship.
Starting on a low-key note in a small town in India, the film follows the life of Mauji (Varun Dhawan), a contented person working as an all-rounder, handyman in a shop selling sewing machines.
"Haanji, sab badhiya hai," is his mantra of coexistence. Till one fine day, his wife Mamta (Anushka Sharma) sees him clowning at a wedding reception on his boss' insistence.
Hurt, she instigates him to live a life of dignity. She tells him to do what he is good at. "So what if we earn a little less," she further coaxes him to take up stitching, after he successfully alters her blouse.
The following day, Mauji kicks his job, picks up his neighbour's sewing machine which is lying in his house and plonks himself on the streetside hoping to be self-employed. How he cuts the barriers to be an entrepreneur designing clothes with a "Made In India" label, forms the crux of the tale.
While the film tries to give you a realistic view of real life, the writing is what lets it down. The narrative is all glossed-up. It goes overboard with melodrama, the hero's struggle is formulaic and the silver lining predictable. The director has taken cinematic liberties to propel the narrative, making the film lose its sheen and emotional connect.
Varun Dhawan as Mauji and Anushka Sharma as Mamta look an odd couple from the very beginning and that's what makes them appealing. They are both sincere in their projection and you feel their pain and pangs during the course of time. How their relationship blossoms is what makes you want to watch them further.
The duo is aptly supported by a set of talented actors who live their roles to perfection. Each one of them have their moments of onscreen glory.
Coming from the stable of Yash Raj Films, the movie is astutely mounted with ace technical and production values. The music is seamlessly integrated into the narrative, but the background score at times is a bit jarring, with western instruments inconsistently blaring in a rural Indian tale.
Overall, albeit heart-warming, there are other inspirational stories that are boundlessly better.
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New Delh (PTI) The Congress on Saturday said it is perhaps not very surprising that India is not part of a US-led strategic initiative to build a secure silicon supply chain, given the "sharp downturn" in the Trump-Modi ties, and asserted that it would have been to "our advantage if we had been part of this group".
Congress general secretary in charge of communications Jairam Ramesh took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying the news of India not being part of the group comes after the PM had enthusiastically posted on social media about a telephone call with his "once-upon-a-time good friend and a recipient of many hugs in Ahmedabad, Houston, and Washington DC".
In a lengthy post on X, Ramesh said, "According to some news reports, the US has excluded India from a nine-nation initiative it has launched to reduce Chinese control on high-tech supply chains. The agreement is called Pax Silica, clearly as a counter to Pax Sinica. The nations included (for the moment at least) are the US, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Australia."
"Given the sharp downturn in the Trump-Modi ties since May 10th, 2025, it is perhaps not very surprising that India has not been included. Undoubtedly, it would have been to our advantage if we had been part of this group."
"This news comes a day after the PM had enthusiastically posted on his telephone call with his once-upon-a-time good friend and a recipient of many hugs in Ahmedabad, Houston, and Washington DC," the Congress leader asserted.
The new US-led strategic initiative, rooted in deep cooperation with trusted allies, has been launched to build a secure and innovation-driven silicon supply chain.
According to the US State Department, the initiative called 'Pax Silica' aims to reduce coercive dependencies, protect the materials and capabilities foundational to artificial intelligence (AI), and ensure aligned nations can develop and deploy transformative technologies at scale.
The initiative includes Japan, South Korea, Singapore, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Australia. With the exception of India, all other QUAD countries -- Japan, Australia and the US -- are part of the new initiative.
New Delhi will host the India-AI Impact Summit 2026 on February 19-20, focusing on the principles of 'People, Planet, and Progress'. The summit, announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the France AI Action Summit, will be the first-ever global AI summit hosted in the Global South.
Prime Minister Modi and US President Trump on Thursday discussed ways to sustain momentum in the bilateral economic partnership in a phone conversation amid signs of the two sides inching closer to firming up a much-awaited trade deal.
The phone call between the two leaders came on a day Indian and American negotiators concluded two-day talks on the proposed bilateral trade agreement that is expected to provide relief to India from the Trump administration's whopping 50 per cent tariffs on Indian goods.
In a social media post, Modi had described the conversation as "warm and engaging".
"We reviewed the progress in our bilateral relations and discussed regional and international developments. India and the US will continue to work together for global peace, stability and prosperity," Modi had said without making any reference to trade ties.
