Wanted to make Mrs more accessible than the original film: Director Arati Kadav

Arati Kadav remade Malayalam film The Great Indian Kitchen as Mrs with Sanya Malhotra in the lead The original film directed by Jeo Baby is set in smalltown Kerala while Mrs changes the setting to north India Any attempt at a remake invites comparisons and many have opined that The Great Indian Kitchen didnrsquot need a retelling Mrs director Arati Kadav spoke to Midday about how she modified the same story for the NorthIndian audienceDid you expect this kind of a response to Mrs post its release on ZEE5I was very nervous before the release because it is a feminist slightly underdog story and also a remake We had a successful festival run and were hopeful that wonrsquot go completely unnoticed But the kind of response we are getting now is otherworldly Never imagined it would connect with audiences so much So many people are writing their personal stories to me and Irsquom feeling a certain sisterhood as well Even older women are writing to me that you showed very less during our times they wouldnrsquot allow us to use a cooker Another woman said that after marriage she faced a similar thing where the husband thought he has a right over the wifersquos body Itrsquos nice that we could connect at that level and start those conversationsTherersquos so much footage of a womanrsquos regular tasks in the kitchen did you feel that the audience might get boredI was slightly worried about the audience in the north The Malayali audience is still more open to artistic cinema but the northern audience might lose interest So I tried to make every cooking scene slightly different There was slight use of humor in the beginning but eventually you have to show the routine and give people the feeling for being trapped I definitely wanted to make it more accessible because I felt the target audience would be audience in North India who are more used to Bollywood content with music etc But I didnrsquot want to Bollywoodise this film a lot it had to be grounded in realityHow was it changing the setting from south to north IndiaSomeone told me how patriarchy was different in North India from South India while we were adapting it But it is a panIndia phenomenon Itrsquos such a universal thing that women cook and the men sit We think Kerala is very progressive but the original film is set in Kerala itself and north India is actually infamous for thishellip someone told me we have to make achar and papad also at home alongside regular food Also a lot of women propagate this there are victims of this victimhood Somewhere we have to recognize that women are not necessarily born with the lsquocookingrsquo geneSince it is such a panIndia story why didnrsquot you release it in theatresI wasnrsquot sure it would resonate at that scale I was a bit nervous about it itrsquos a feminist drama people might not be open to it You remake films like Arjun Reddy the massive masculine plotbased films What is the story of this film A girl gets married and realises this is not what she wants in life and she leaves It is an unusual story I wanted people to experience it on the big screen but ZEE5 has massive reach in the interiors of the country and many women have been able to access it This magic might not have happened if it was released in theatresSince 2024 itrsquos been a great year for the woman filmmaker rightYes since Laapata Ladies to thishellip so good to see a surge of women filmmakers I am in very good company I love and admire all of them Kiran Rao marsquoam has always been so encouraging and supportivehellipI think the next thing we want to see is a box office successhellipEven my goal is that I want to now make a mainstream film thatrsquos also successful at the box office that would feel like the real victory