Mitr: My Friend

Mitr, my friend, gives voice to women, who are lonely and go through what Lakshmi has gone through in this movie. Though it is very unlikely, that woman in U.S. faces such vacuum in her life. It is more appropriate in the countries like India, where it is still expected from woman to stay back at home and look after her family only, where she still considered to be a second citizen.

Only sensitive people can appreciate this movie. Shobhana was superb. Music deserve an applause, Ms. Illayaraja has done a great job, even after so many years, i still enjoys the music of Mitr.

time... care.... love.... the most enchanting words for any happy family, it can actually perform miracle in anybody's life. Hats off to Revathi and her crew.

This is a film made in Bharat but mostly in English. The film is about adjustment crisis in marriage and bringing up children in a foreign country.

This was the directorial debut of acclaimed South Indian actress Revathi and also won Shobana her second National Award after Manichitrathazhu.

Nasser also performs well as the balanced husband, the anchor in the family. The fulcrum of the film though is the daughter played by Preeti Vissa. Such a genuine and excellent portrayal of such a tough role. Preeti plays a daughter being brought up in a foreign land and hence unable to relate to the culture her mother tries to imbibe in her. She hence rebels and faces violent consequences of her mistakes.

Preeti was of the right age and hence I could play it from the heart, apart from her good looks and talent. Honestly, I became a fan and developed a crush on her. It was sorry to see her not appearing in any films after.

The ending of the film is a bit loose and disappointing and hence the drop in ratings and recommendations no doubt. This is otherwise a wake up call and a must watch for parents considering to bring up children in a foreign culture.

'Mitr' attempts to portray the conflicts experienced by a traditional Indian mother living in the USA. She devotes her life to her family while her teenage daughter and ambitious husband grow increasingly independent.

Far from being a Bollywood production, I felt Mitr is closer to being a a high-school drama caught on film, based on its production quality. The lighting was flat and strange (candlelight dinner on a sunny afternoon?). Every line of dialogue was forced and overdone (clearly the director's decision). The audio was plagued by echo (too distant microphones?). The soundtrack was nonstop georgewinston-ey, with cricket chirps dubbed into the nighttime scenes. Mitr boasts "an all female crew," but the the quality of their work does not reflect well on female professionals in the film industry.

Mitr is partly redeemed by its strong character development, but it's poor production quality is so distracting that I did not enjoy watching it.

Mitr plays like a Seventh Heaven episode, a sweet domestic drama about an Indian mom and dad living in the US whose marriage is in trouble and who have a rebellious teenaged daughter. The film is set in the US and must've been made to appeal to the NRI (Non-Resident Indian) population. It was pitched to me as an exploration of the differences between Indian and US culture, but Lakshmi isn't so much an Indian woman as she is a repressed and overprotective mother (this sort of woman also exists in America as no doubt everywhere in the world), and it's a disservice to blame her attitudes on her cultural background.

Mitr is a very accessible Indian film, being 95% in English, relatively short (~100 minutes) and lacking the elaborate music-video numbers typical for a Bollywood product.

I found it ultimately unsatisfying, primarily because I watch Indian films in order to experience the color of exotic cultures and locales.

Lakshmi, a traditional Indian woman, marries an American-Indian and lives in America with him and their daughter. Both husband and daughter are "American" (i.e., very independent, living for own self) while Lakshmi lives only to please them. Their lack of concern for her leads her to pursue her own life and the other two feel left out and abandoned, instead. I really enjoyed the story, music, and acting. We had the privilege of having the director herself come to present this movie to our university and were permitted to ask questions. She told us that at first, the all-women technical crew was a fluke, until the final member was chosen, when she decided to stick with all females (though would have compromised had an adequate female not been found). To me, the acting was a bit rough at times, and characters and actions seemed misplaced, silly, or over-Americanized. Otherwise, I really enjoyed it and would recommend it as a good cultural pick.