Suresh Triveni on the ‘beautiful mess’ that is ‘Maa Behen’ and whether a sequel is on the way

After years of directing commercials and short films, Suresh Triveni made his feature debut with the feminist comedy Tumhari Sulu in 2017. The gritty crime thrillers Jalsa (2022), Daldal and Subedaar (2026) followed. With Maa Behen, Triveni returns to the world of humour led by feisty women.

Maa Behen, which is out on Netflix, takes place in a pulp-inspired setting. The Hindi film stars Madhuri Dixit as a disreputable single mother and Triptii Dimri and Dharna Durga as her long-suffering daughters. The squabbling women are forced to work together when a corpse turns up in Jaya’s living room. The cast includes Ravi Kishan, Geetanjali Kulkarni and Arunoday Singh.

Based on a story by Triveni and Pooja Tolani and written by Tolani, Maa Behen has been warmly received. Will there be a sequel? And how did Triveni assemble his dream cast? Here are edited excerpts from an interview with Scroll.

What’s the response to Maa Behen been like?

It’s been overwhelming. My phone hasn’t stopped ringing.

I am loving the fact that people are debating the film. That’s what any piece of art should do. It should create a conversation, whether it’s about the craft, the content or the performances .

We shot the film in 41 days. Everything is a set, with very few outdoor shoots. We made a very conscious effort in terms of craft. All of that has become part of the chatter.

A killer title – who came up with it?

I did. Titles come out at me from nowhere.

This was after Tumhari Sulu came out. Tumhari Sulu had so much of goodness. I felt that I should do something else entirely. A wicked comedy with three women.

I wrote until the midpoint and then got stuck. I met Pooja Tolani around this time. I liked her style of writing. She took over and wrote the screenplay and dialogue. The first draft was ready by 2021. We kept working on it.

The body in a trunk is a done-to-death subject. How do you find novelty in it? How do you find the tone? I wanted to have a distinct narrative style, inspired by women’s magazines in Malayalam, Tamil and Hindi. The film is slightly dialled up, for a reason.

To cast a film that has a mother and two daughters is quite a task, especially if you are looking for popular actors. So, initially we got lost a little.

How did you arrive at the film’s hyper-real, over-the-top tone?

My brief to the team was that this film should be a beautiful mess. It’s very messy and yet, there’s a certain aesthetic to it.

The flashback is basically the fictional world. We needed a certain signature to it. What I arrived at is that rumours are always exaggerated, and rumours don’t have details.

All the flashbacks are exaggerated. The women are wearing the same clothes across the sequences. This is because there are no details, it’s all hearsay.

Nobody has really spoken about this, but when the flashback happens, the aspect ratio changes and the frames get cropped. It’s a narrow gaze. The music is la-la-land and orchestral.

How did you land Madhuri Dixit for the lead role?

I always had Madhuri in mind. I met her after Tumhari Sulu, when I won my first debut director award. She really like Tumhari Sulu and she wanted to do something with me.

In 2024, I narrated Maa Behen to her and she was an instant yes. The stars finally aligned, I guess.

We have our own perceptions about actors. You get burdened by unnecessary information. When you actually approach actors, they are prepared for very different choices if it’s worth their while.

Madhuri’s generation of actors is extremely capable. They may have missed out on a lot of roles, but their popularity still remains. I saw first-hand the craze for Madhuri during the promotions.

Now, these actors are having fun. There’s been a shift in terms of stories. There is so much more to explore. They are biting into roles without any pressures, and are enjoying their craft.

When we started the workshops for Maa Behen, Madhuri told told me, I have never done a workshop before. She completely bought into it. She never got into the space of, why should I do a workshop? She dedicatedly spent several hours every day.

What were you looking for in the rest of the cast?

I liked Triptii a lot in Bulbbul and Qala. People who do extremely serious, restrained roles will be brilliant when they are unleashed. She was shooting for Dhadak 2. She readily agreed after she heard the script.

She fitted the bill. She looks like she can be Madhuri’s daughter.

My writer showed me some of Dharna’s clips. I didn’t want to cast her just because she is an influencer. I did two auditions with her.

I wanted her to look slightly different. There was something organic, something innocent about her. And spontaneous, which is what I wanted.

I cast Arunoday Singh because I wanted a gentle giant. He’s always been typecast. I felt that he would be endearing as Maheshwari.

I had seen Shardul Bhardwaj in Eeb Allay Ooo! Again, I felt that here is someone who is so restrained that he opens up, he might do some magic. As for Geetanjali Kulkarni, I was just praying that it happens, and it did.

I wanted a solid Gupta, who had lie down as a body for most of the film and then have 15 minutes of performance. I pursued Ravi Kishan a lot. I needed a formidable actor.

You’ve tackled comedy as well as serious subjects. Which is harder?

Comedy, actually. In drama, you can play with situations. With humour, you don’t always know what you’ll get.

Comedy is a very lonely journey. After a particular point, you don’t know if you’re the only one who is finding something funny. In the previews, there were chuckles where we thought we would get the maximum laughter, and laughs in places where we didn’t expect it.

It’s tough because you become immune after reading a script a number of times. While shooting it, you tend to turn numb with multiple takes. I depended a lot on the chemistry of my actors. Pooja wrote dialogue that was savage but also very real.

Is Maa Behen 2 on the cards?

I am not jumping into it, but the film has gathered tremendous momentum since it came out. I told Pooja to start writing, but I don’t think she’s ready yet.

We aren’t prepared for a sequel, but we won’t shy away from it either. I would like to expand the story. It will happen if we find another take altogether.

Also read:

Review: In ‘Maa Behen’, the joys of misbehaving women