'Maja Ma is a progressive start to break gender stereotypes and a start of queer stories in India,' says Srishti Shrivastava

New Delhi: Actress Srishti Shrivastava has been at the receiving end of praise for her role in the Madhuri Dixit starrer 'Maja Ma'. Anand Tiwari's film delves deeply into how society supports male privilege and puts unfair expectations on women.

Srishti Shrivastava, while speaking about the filmmaking process and her character,  said, “In one line Maja Ma is a progressive start to break gender stereotypes and a start of queer stories in India. There were lots of conversations that happened with Anand Sir (Director) when we started shooting for Maja Ma, about what the film is about and about my character. Such an important subject matter needs to be handled with care. My character works with the LGBTQ community so we needed to make sure I understood the background and so I met a lot of people from the community. I met Ivanka Das who is also with me in the film who plays Komal, met the members of the Humsafar Trust, the conversations we had helped create Tara. There was one thing we discussed that could go either way. It can be really in the face or Tara can be vulnerable, because Tara Patel could be very harsh in that sense, very pushy. That was our journey while we were shooting the film as to how to make her as human as real and understand her point of view. So, Maja Ma was very nice for me because I got to explore a character in-depth like really deeply.”

She added, “I couldn’t have asked for a better on-screen family to work with.  We all were so invested in telling this story earnestly and honestly. Also getting to work with Madhuri Ma’am, is something I will eternally be grateful for. I have been dancing to her songs since I was little and I know all the steps to all her songs, all her expressions, moments, everything. I have been preparing since I was 4 years old. (Hahaha). I was mentally prepared of course but I was nervous the first day but then I was having so much fun, it all fell into place. Madhuri Ma’am understands dance, I mean understand is an understatement, she lives and breathes dance, and I completely get it because I function in a similar way. We totally got along and I was not nervous when I was dancing, I was having a blast with her.

The Madhuri Dixit-starrer tells the story about a simple middle-class family whose lives start spiralling after the truth about its matriarch comes out.