Mrs. ending explained: Does Sanya Malhotra's Richa walks away from a toxic marriage?

Mrs., the Hindi adaptation of the Malayalam film The Great Indian Kitchen, debuted on ZEE5 (OTTplay Premium) more than a week ago. The film has garnered significant viewership on the streaming platform and has sparked extensive discussion on social media pages. Mrs., directed by Arati Kadav, features Sanya Malhotra in the leading role alongside Nishant Dahiya and Kanwaljit Singh.

Commentary on gender norms

The film sheds light on the repressive and outmoded gender norms that have long been entrenched in Indian society. Traditional practices have had their justifications, and the film tells us that it is time to make a difference. Mrs. stresses the importance of treating our sons and daughters fairly once more. Without showing on the face, the film teaches that men shouldn't feel guilty about going into the kitchen and making their own meals if doing so is necessary for their survival. When they can't do it themselves, they should be grateful to those who help.

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In Mrs., we see that Richa, played by Malhotra, feels confined in the kitchen since the day she got married to Diwaker, played by Dahiya. The film then culminates in the fact that within a short span of time, she has to break free from that family. Richa cherished her freedom, but it never interfered with her plans to be married. She had observed her friends and family getting hitched, raising lovely families, juggling their many responsibilities, and following their passions. As long as her partner made an effort to comprehend her feelings, she was willing to put in the time and effort. One could argue that Richa did not hold any unrealistic expectations. Without sacrificing the level of respect her in-laws and husband expected, all she wanted was to be free to do as she pleased.

Reality of a regressive household

Richa was amazed to learn that Diwakar was a gynaecologist. Since gynaecologists were relatively uncommon among men on the Indian subcontinent, she assumed he would be quite progressive. Only a day into her "ideal" marriage did her assumptions and expectations crumble. As long as Richa's mother-in-law was around, things were manageable. However, everything changed for her the minute her mother-in-law chose to spend a few days at her pregnant daughter's house.

Even before her husband got out of the shower, Richa noticed that her mother-in-law got up early, took care of the housework, and managed everything throughout the day. She frequently held the belief that such contempt and favouritism towards an adult male was inappropriate. Richa was affectionate as well, but it didn't imply she was okay with being treated like dirt in her own home. The males, characteristic of the archetypal Indian home, were naive about everything. Since they didn't even bother to thank her, Richa felt like her work was in vain and that she should have been treated with more dignity.

Silent sacrifice

She watched as her mother-in-law accepted her destiny. Richa even gets to know from her father-in-law that his wife was a PhD in economics, and now she is just a mute person in her own house ruled by the men of the family. She never once voiced her disapproval; on the contrary, she believed it was her moral obligation as a mother and wife to put up with this kind of abuse. Perhaps she had been used to dealing with similar mindsets since she had been doing it for so long. Furthermore, coercion can sometimes force people into submission, and it's likely that Richa's mother-in-law would never have dared to speak out against her husband. People were still unhappy with Richa even after she dutifully followed her elders' orders. She advised her mother-in-law to spend more time with her daughter, despite her awareness that the days ahead would be a nightmare.

Her father-in-law had retired from active duty and most of the time, he remained at home. He was extremely regimented with his schedule, and he preferred things exactly as they were, down to the timing of his breakfast and the flavour of his meals. Without hesitation, he criticised the meal's taste, demonstrating total disregard for the meticulous care and attention that went into its preparation. It seemed as though Diwakar and his father were lodged in a five-star hotel, where they expected flawless service at all times. Due to their extreme attention to detail, they were oblivious to the fact that a poor woman had been labouring tirelessly since five a.m.

Marriage of ownership and not partnership

The family's so-called breadwinners quickly made disparaging remarks about Richa's cooking skills and lack of domestic management abilities, oblivious to the potential hurt or devaluation the target might have felt as a result. Moreover, despite being a newly married couple, Diwakar viewed Richa as merely a commodity. Before everything else, she had to prioritise the punctuality of the spoilt brat's food, clothing, and other necessities. Then, throughout the night, she had to satisfy his sexual cravings, oblivious to her own needs and desires. If this isn't marital rape, then what is?

Since dance was her love, Richa expressed her desire to return to it to Diwakar. She wished she could perform with her dancing troupe. Additionally, she discovered that a dancing teacher post was open at a nearby school and was eager to submit her application. Diwakar and his father were so disgusted by Richa's proposal that they told her straight out that women of the house would never engage in such a shameful profession. Girls from respectable backgrounds did not dance, in their view. They were too rude to even bring up the subject, and they never gave a second thought to how badly Richa wanted it.

As time went on, her internal frustration intensified. Unfortunately, Richa lacked the maturity and acceptance of her mother-in-law to understand that this was her destiny and that she would be treated this way forever. Diwakar was too narcissistic and patriarchal to grasp anything, despite her best efforts to communicate with him. When Richa talked about how she felt, others would make her feel like it was her responsibility for being a witness to such things.

Additionally, Diwaker's upbringing prevented him from engaging in self-reflection; as a result, he believed he was invariably correct and that Richa was only failing at her role as a housewife.

Final act of rebellion

When we come to the climax, we see that Richa has finally decided to leave Diwakar and follow her aspirations. However, it doesn't come with just a walk out of the house. Richa stages a situation to make sure the men of the house know how she has been feeling the whole time she has been staying there. Diwaker once tells her that he doesn't find her desirable enough to get intimate but only to have sex because she stinks of kitchen smell. Thus, Richa decides to give him a taste of his own medicine by serving the very stinky, smelly, dirty water as "shikanji."

At her father-in-law's birthday party, Richa toils in the kitchen while the guests filled with men keep on demanding food and drinks constantly. When the men's constant demands for food and drinks became unbearable for her, she decided to serve the kitchen water as "shikanji" to the guests. When Diwakar and her father-in-law finally arrived in the kitchen, she threw a bucket of the same water at them..

Richa takes the car keys, leaves the house, and goes to her house, only to have her parents see it as a normal household and ask her to stop overreacting. She witnesses the same in the house when her brother asks for water and her mother asks her to get some for him. She responds by stating that such parents encourage their son to avoid the kitchen, allowing him to fetch water independently.

Choosing herself

The only reason Richa sought separation was because her partner was a classic patriarchal man: he was ignorant of how to handle women, having been taught from an early age that females had to conform to certain domestic roles in order to be good wives and mothers, and so she did.

Richa proceeded to depart from Diwakar and got back to her dance company, gearing up for a performance at an event. She looks back at her choice and sees she is pleased with herself. On the other hand, Diwakar essentially gained another housekeeper when he remarried, because men will change the women and bring another but won't change themselves to make their partner happy. They believe that breaking a pattern requires more effort than pushing a woman to her limits and living according to their expectations.

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