Panga Movie Review: Kangana Ranaut puts up a stellar act as a mother torn between duty and passion

Panga movie cast: Kangana Ranaut, Jassie Gill, Yagya Bhasin, Richa Chadha, Neena Gupta

Panga movie director: Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari

Women trying to get back to work after becoming wives and mums is an issue Bollywood hasn’t bothered to explore in any detail. Panga’s protagonist is a former kabaddi player whose life has been subsumed by the tedium of everyday domesticity and jobbery. That Jaya Nigam, played with absolute conviction by Kangana Ranuat, dares to dream of a past life where she was in the spotlight, is a straight-off win, subject-wise.

But just how tough is it for a mainstream Bollywood movie to focus on a woman like Jaya, is evident in the long build-up to the point where she can say to her husband: when I think of you, I feel happy. When I think of Adi (her son), I feel happy. But when I think of myself, I am not so happy. Or words to that effect.

By that point we are fully primed to support Jaya, because we’ve seen her do the stuff middle-class, working mothers do every day of their life: wake up early, get the tiffins packed, see off the child to school, make sure the home runs smoothly, and get herself to office only to have to deal with a tetchy boss. Fine, we say, she’s done all this smilingly, now she can go off and do her thing, if she wants to. And we say this only because the push-and-shove comes from the son (Bhasin), and the husband (Gill).