Miss India premiered on 4th November 2020 on Netflix. Directed and written by Narendra Nath, the Telugu drama film stars Keerthy Suresh, Rajendra Prasad, Naresh, Nadhiya, Naveen Chandra, and Jagapathi Babu alongside other cast members.
Chai Ceremony
Ever since her childhood, Manasa Samyuktha (Keerthy Suresh) aspires to build a business of her own. A topper and achiever, Samyukta is headstrong and won’t let anything let her down but her path is not easy. Her father is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, her grandfather, her support system, also leaves them too soon. After all this, when her elder brother gets a chance to work in the US, the family decides to shift there and start a new, more prosperous life.
But what falls on her path is an unsupportive family and love-interest, and a market that has no idea about Indian tea. The question is – will Samyukhta achieve her dream and the success she aspires for and fulfil her and her grandfather’s dream or will she fail, losing everything in the process, and abide by what her family asks her to do?
Woman-centric film Miss India is predictable and flawed in various aspects. Samyuktha pursues her MBA from a San Francisco college, surprisingly without the need to attend more than 2 classes. Everyone around her can speak in Telugu and whoever talks in English talks in the Siri/Google Assistant voice (literally). Since the film is set in contemporary times, I thought it was in everyone’s best interest to see whether there actually are no Indian chai joints in the US, specifically in San Francisco. However, with just 1 Google search, I stumbled upon 10 best Indian chai spots in the country and it is here that the film’s flawed facts fail it.
Another weird aspect of the film is that everyone can talk to American people in Telugu and they understand every word of it. Little did I know that Telugu is a global language. Suresh carries the film well on her shoulder but for a movie that’s more than two hours long, it only picks up the pace after one and a half hours, which makes the overall idea not just dull but also slow-paced. With the cast doing the best that they can, the entire storyline and its length take away the interest.
Our villain here is Kailash Shiva Kumar (Jagapathi Babu), owner of the leading coffee chain in the States, who is dressed in monochrome shades, is sassy and boastful with no engaging character arc. Furthermore, for a market in which Samyukhta was stepping in, she had no idea about her rival till later. That’s a costly, and honestly, a very foolish mistake to make!
Stream It or Skip It
SKIP IT! If I had to sum up the movie in one line I would say – a female entrepreneur in the US faces sexism with nearly no support from her family but eventually conquers everything and wins. That’s the whole idea of Miss India which you’ll realize as soon as you start watching the film. Miss India Tea is not worth your time.
Miss India is now streaming on Netflix.
Read our other reviews here.
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