Movie Title: Mom
Screenwriter: Girish Kohli
Director: Ravi Udywar
Main Characters:
● Sridevi as Devki Sabarwal
● Adnan Siddique as Anand Sabarwal
● Sajal Ali as Arya Sabarwal
● Akshay Khanna as Inspector Matthew Francis
● Nawaz-ud-din Siddique as Detective Dyashankar Kapoor
● Adarsh Gourav as Mohit Chadda
● Vikas Verma as Charles Diwan
● Abhimanyu Singh as Joginder Singh “Jagan”
● Pitobash Tripathy as Guard Baburam Pandey
Release Date: 7 July 2017
SCREENWRITER: Girish Kohli, an articulate and eloquent screenwriter, was born on 29, November 1983 in Mumbai. He graduated with the degree of software engineering. Though circumstances led him to be an Architect of word—a full-time writer.
His reputation grew as a meticulous author and storyteller through his thought-provoking and realistic writings. His remarkable works include Craxy (2025), First Case (2022) and the historical film Kesari— based on nationalism 2019.
Moreover, he earned a big name in the Indian literary and industry by its famous and well-known Novel marathon Baba (2012). Among his notable worl thrilled movie “Mom” (2017) stand as an stark and bleak reality of society. Girish Kohli is well known as meticulous and realistic writer.
DIRECTOR: Ravi Udywar, a visionary and virtuoso film director, is a gold medalist from JJ school of arts, Mumbai. Initially, he began his career as painter and illustrator before stepping towards a prominent film-maker.
He earned notable recognition for directing the music vedio The Silk Route: Dooba Dooba Rehta Un in 2024. Earlier in his career, his talent gave him a wide recognition with his known directing movie “Mom” (2017).
INTRODUCTION: The movie “Mom” (2017) is a bittersweet, melancholic and Dark Film that explores the Black and harsh reality of so-called civilised societies. Brought into black and white by Girish Kohli with the renowned director Ravi Udywar. It presents that the culprits roam freely while victims suffer, revealing the hollowness of law.
The film was produced by multiple meticulous producers— Boney Kapoor, Sunil Manchanda, Naresh Agarwal, Mukesh Talreja and Gautam Jain— with music composed by A.R Rahman. It was released on 7 July 2017 and dubbed into Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam. Mom became a superhit movie for its relevant and realistic story, manifesting grave societal issues.
SUMMARY:
The movie revolves around various main characters. Devki Sabarwal (Sridevi), the star and main protagonist, is the stepmother of Arya Sabarwal (Sajal Ali), a teenage girl who becomes the victim of a brutal assault.
The story also focuses on the four antagonists involved in the crime: Mohit Chadda (Adarsh Gourav), his cousin Charles Diwan (Vikas Verma), their criminal friend Jogindar Singh— known as Jagan— (Abhimanyu Singh), and Baburam Pandey (Pitobash Tripathy), the security guard at Zodiac Farm.
Devki Sabarwal is a biology teacher at the same school where Arya studies. However, the classroom environment is often interrupted and distrubed by vulgar boys like Mohit Chadda. During Ma’am Devki’s class, Mohit sends an nasty and abusive vedio to Arya, which angers Devki. Due to which she throws Mohit’s mobile phone out of the window. This incident triggers Mohit’s hostility and sparks a wave of anger.
Meanwhile, the relationship between Arya and her stepmother Devki hit a rough oatch. Arya refuses to accept Devki as her mother and even calls her as “ma’am” instead of “Mom.” Despite this emotional distance, Devki continues to fulfill her role with patience, love, and care.
On 14th February, Valentine’s Day, Arya goes to a night party at Zodiac Farm with her school friends. During the celebration, Mohit Chadda approaches Arya and asks her for a dance. Arya firmly refuses and scolds him, which deeply offends and angers Mohit.
When Arya steps outside to call for a cab, the four antagonists ambush and abduct her in an attempt to satisfy Mohit’s wounded ego. They forcibly pull her into their car and say “Now call your mom” then sexually assault her, and throw her into a drain.
Late that night, Devki tries calling Arya, but her phone is switched off. Faced with a tense situation, she approaches the police for help. The next morning, Devki receives a devastating call informing her that Arya has been found and admitted to the hospital in critical condition.
Inspector Matthew Francis (Akshay Khanna) takes charge of the case. A court case is initiated, but due to falsified forensic reports and the involvement of a corrupt forensic expert, the culprits walk free. This breaks Devki’s trust in law and justice, pushing her to take justice into her own hands for her daughter.
Devki also seeks help from Detective Dyanshankar Kapoor, also known as DK, to collect information about the culprits. Using his intelligence, DK collects detailed information on each perpetrator, which Devki uses to meticulously plan her revenge.
Her first target is Baburam Pandey, the security guard. With the help of two of her former students, who are transgender, Devki takes Baburam to a bar, secretly drugs his drink, and then tells the transgenders to cut his male genitial. Four days later, Baburam regains consciousness. However, he get shocked by the consequences of Devki’s plan and eventually falls in the bathroom, sustaining head injuries that lead to his death.
Next, Devki turns her attention to Charles Deewan, a Gym and fitness lover. Taking advantage of this, Devki cleverly poisons him with cyanide extracted from apple seeds. Charles is hospitalized and believe to die soon, which pleases Devki. Visiting Charles in Hospital, she says, “You told her to call her mom, and I showed up.”
Devki then targets Mohit Chadda. Using her clever tactics, she plants evidence at Mohit’s house to trap him in murder attempt accusation of Charles Diwan. Her plan works flawlessly, and Mohit is arrested and punished, finally facing justice for his crimes.
Finally, Devki confronts Jagan, the last culprit. When Jagan realizes DK is following him, he shoots DK and goes toward Devki with the intent to kill her. Meanwhile, Inspector Matthew finds a memory card hidden in DK’s glasses containing all evidence and the location of both Devki and Jagan.
Jagan shoots and injures Anand before chasing Devki. As he tries to kill her, Inspector Matthew arrives, shooting Jagan in the leg and handing his gun to Devki, giving her the chance to complete her revenge. Devki hesitates for a moment and trembles. But when Jagan taunts her about killing his companions in front of the inspectors, Arya finally feels her mother’s courage and love. For the first time, she calls Devki “Mom.” Hearing this, Devki gets encouraged and fires five shots, killing Jagan and completing her revenge.
MEMORABLE QOUTE:
One of the most beautiful lines in the movie, which is said by D.K:
“God is not everywhere; therefore, He created mothers.”
RELEVENCE TO SOCIETY
Mom (2017) poignantly expresses the dark reality of a society where victims yearn for justice while criminals roam freely. As Faiz Ahmed Faiz captures in his ghazal:
ہے اہل دل کے لیے اب یہ نظام بست و کشاد
کہ سنگ و خشت مقید ہے اور سگ آزاد
The film highlights how the law often fails to protect victims. It does not always provide justice and can even safeguard criminals. Multiple studies confirm that most sexual assault cases remain unreported.
The American Medical Association (1995) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Under-reporting?utm_source=chatgpt.com) notes that many rape cases go unreported due to fear of not being believed, insecurity, and concerns about further trouble. In Mom, Arya’s assault was reported, but the culprits were not punished due to falsified forensic reports, leaving the victim without justice.
Globally, child abuse remains a serious concern.
The National Children’s Alliance reports indicate that over 600,000 children in the U.S. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Under-reporting?utm_source=chatgpt.com) were victims of abuse and neglect in 2021. A significant portion of these cases happened within Religious institutions, including the Catholic Church, yet many remain unresolved. Similarly, in the so-called religious state of Pakistan also known as Land of Pure, child abuse continues largely unpunished.
An April 2025 report by Pakistan Today (https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2025/04/11/islamabad-records-highest-number-of-gang-rape-incidents-in-pakistan-report-reveals/ ) recorded 2,142 gang rape cases across the country. Punjab was the most affected with 2,046 cases, Sindh had 71, Islamabad 22, KPK 1, and Gilgit-Baltistan 1 case, while Balochistan reported none. Many of these cases remain unresolved, and sexual crimes continue to increase without delay, affecting students, young adults, and even males, all of whom often face injustice.
THEMES
● Sexual Harassment: Sexual assault, harassment and rape is declared as heinous crime globally. Even Islam calls its Zina-Al Zibr—an unforgiveable sin. It does not only harm the victim physically and but affects emotionally, socially and mentally.
This film highlights that not only the victim suffers harm and violence, though leave the whole family in burning fire, emphasizing accountibility and justice.
● Failure of the Judiciary: The movie highlights how the failure of the judiciary can leave victims with no choice but to take the law into their own hands. This theme explores the consequences when law fails to grant justice, showing how frustration and helplessness can drive individuals to rebel against the cruel system. Such acts of personal justice highlight the failures and dead duck of society’s legal system.
● Mother’s love and courage:
The movie explores the power of a mother’s love and courage. It expresses that if a mother can be a lenient fairly for her child happiness, so she can be fierce and wild beast for revenge— In case, her child gets hurt. She turns to fierce, ruthless and merciless for her child protection against violence without expecting the consequences. Therefore, D.K says in movie that God is not everwhere, therefore, he created mother.
CONCLUSION:
Mom (2017) is a thought-provoking and societal film that addresses real-world issues. It represents a society where victims are often unheard, laws fail, authorities are corrupt, and crimes go unnoticed. The movie emphasizes that in such circumstances, courage, determination, and moral action become crucial. As it is said: “Where there is Pharaoh, there is Musa; where there is Namrud; there is Abraham; where there is cronus; there is zeus; where there is Rawand, there is Ram.
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