Madam Chief Minister movie review: Richa Chadha’s film is strictly passable

Madam Chief Minister cast: Richa Chadha, Manav Kaul, Akshay Oberoi, Saurabh Shukla

Madam Chief Minister director: Subhash Kapoor

Madam Chief Minister rating: 2 stars

Can your film portray a chief minister of UP, who is Dalit, female, short-haired, spunky, ambitious, and claim that the character does not resemble Mayawati? The lead player in Subhash Kapoor’s ‘Madam Chief Minister’ is all of the above. Do we believe it, or faint?

Tara Roop Ram (Chadha) is the only girl of her family who has managed to come out alive of that inhuman ‘sadiyon-puraana’ (ancient) tradition that kills baby girls as soon they are born. She’s not only the wrong gender, but also the wrong caste, as she discovers soon enough when a college romance goes wrong. Her patently upper caste lover laughs at her when she talks of marriage: ‘rakh lenge’ (will ‘keep you’) he says, and is astounded when she feels disparaged. His kind of people have always behaved thus with her kind of people, so what is she going on about?

The formation of a strong, populist leader is the most engaging part of the film. Tara learns the importance of ‘grassroots engagement’ from her mentor, Masterji ( Shukla), who leads an army of cycle-borne activists from village to village, amassing a great deal of local support.