Review: 'Sui Dhaaga; Made In India': Heartwarming but predictable
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.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Wayanad LS bypoll: Priyanka crosses lead achieved by Rahul in 2024 Lok Sabha polls
Wayanad (Kerala) (PTI): Top Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was on Saturday comfortably cruising towards her maiden electoral win from Wayanad in Kerala, as she surpassed the lead achieved by her brother Rahul Gandhi in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls earlier this year with party leaders and ally IUML predicting a big win for her amid the counting trends.
The Congress-led UDF's candidate from this hill constituency, Priyanka, extended her lead by over 3.8 lakh votes after five hours of counting of the ballots in the Wayanad Lok Sabha bypoll, according to the Election Commission.
Reacting to the lead achieved by Priyanka, Congress' ally Indian Union Muslim League and Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy said she would get more votes than her brother Rahul Gandhi in the Lok Sabha polls in April this year and will win by a record margin.
"An amazing first trend on counting day is the massive early lead for our leader @priyankagandhi ji in Wayanad, Kerala, by-election. People of Wayanad are surely going to record in victory margins today and Priyanka ji will make Parliamentary debut with a grand win," Reddy said in a post on 'X'.
IUML supremo Panakkad Sadiq Ali Shihab Thangal said that going by the trends, Priyanka will get more votes than what Rahul got and the majority she achieves would also be higher than that of her brother.
A similar view was expressed by IUML's national general secretary P K Kunhalikutty.
On the other hand, BJP leader Anil K Antony, earlier in the day, had claimed that though Priyanka has achieved a good lead, her victory margin would be less than what Rahul got in the 2024 and 2019 LS polls in the hill constituency.
According to the latest EC figures, Priyanka had a lead of 3,82,975 with 5,78,526 votes. LDF's Sathyan Mokeri was behind her with 1,95,551 votes and NDA's Navya Haridas was in the third spot with 1,04,947 votes.
Rahul had got 6,47,445 votes and won by a margin of 3,64,422 votes against his nearest rival, CPI's Annie Raja, in the LS polls this year. In 2019, he had got 7,06,367 votes and had won by a margin of 4,31,770 votes.
After winning from Rae Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh as well, in this year's polls, Rahul vacated the Wayanad seat, and the party nominated his sister Priyanka, paving the way for her electoral debut.
The bypoll turnout in Wayanad, which has over 14 lakh registered voters, was around 65 per cent, a decline from the close to 74 per cent in the LS polls held in April this year and much lower than the over 80 per cent turnout in the hill constituency in the 2019 general elections.
The counting of votes commenced at 8 am with postal ballots being taken up first.
The strong rooms, where the EVMs were kept, were opened more than an hour before counting began.
The bypoll for the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat was held on November 13.
Of the 16 candidates who contested, the main contenders are Priyanka, ruling CPI(M)-led LDF's Sathyan Mokeri, a political veteran, and BJP-headed NDA's Navya Haridas.
