Janhvi Kapoor’s Mili: Kindness saves the day when system fails its people

Boxing Janhvi Kapoor-starrer Mili into the survival thriller/escape room drama genre wouldn’t be entirely incorrect. It is, on the surface, a survival thriller which plays into the genre’s many tropes – similar to James Franco-starrer 127 Hours (2010) or Everest (2015). Mili, the film, cannot escape from the trappings of a survival thriller entirely much like Mili, the character, cannot escape the control that the men in her life have over her. Men like Mili’s boyfriend Sameer or her father Mr Naudiyal (played by Manoj Pahwa) though well-intentioned, unknowingly end up adding to Mili’s troubles and push her to breaking point. While Mili’s father doesn’t want her to go to Canada but instead stay home with him, Sameer wants to leave Dehradun for a job in Delhi. Both men want what they think is best for Mili – except, of course, asking her what she thinks is best for her. It doesn’t help that Mili’s workplace – the fictional Doon’s Kitchen at a fictional Pacific Mall is highly toxic thanks to her boss who micromanages his employees and yells at them for taking long lunch breaks. It is, therefore, not a surprise why Mili was pushed to the breaking point and chose to stay back at the restaurant even after punching out.

It is one thing that the men in Mili’s lives are overbearing. The bigger problem is that these men face little-to-no consequences for their acts. Mili’s boss commits an act of criminal negligence which could have cost his employee her life. One can forgive him for shutting the freezer door inadvertently but the fact that he chose to sleep with his phone off and did not care to put a timer on the cold storage shows his lack of commitment to keeping his employees safe. Needless to say, Doon’s Kitchen is clearly a disaster waiting to happen. Towards the end of the film, this boss is let off with a warning of his license being suspended. In an ideal world, the store manager should have been sued for nearly killing one of his employees but thanks to the broken system, men like the store manager in Mili, are allowed to walk scot-free

Meanwhile, the police sub-inspector who repeatedly slut-shamed Mili, character assassinated her boyfriend, refused to file a complaint or even send Mili’s location to his superior, is a whole another problem to deal with. Each time the case seems to make some progress, the sub-inspector tries to derail and jeopardize it and for some reason, derives sadistic pleasure out of it. Men like the sub-inspector in Mili are all around us – we have seen them throw temper tantrums in government offices, ask common folk to come back the next day if a document is missing and take infinitely long breaks, without facing any consequences for their terrible behaviour. Are these men not answerable to the higher-ups? Are they not held accountable by their superiors like Mili? Men like the sub-inspector in Mili are clearly fed up and seemingly frustrated with their lives and derive pleasure out of projecting their misery on others. Perhaps, this is the reason why the system has failed women like Mili who don’t have a safe workplace and no recourse (legal or otherwise) if their well-being is at risk.

However, in the backdrop of the colossal failure of the system which falls short of protecting the very people for which it exists, there are men like the guard at the Pacific mall or the inmates in the prison – who show humanity and compassion when it is least expected. It seems that the film is commenting on life – at times, the people that we expect the most from disappoint us and the kindness of random strangers helps us sail through tough times. Perhaps, the film is also trying to send across a message that no kind deed goes unnoticed. Mili didn’t know that just smiling at the guard while entering the mall would end up saving her from freezing to death. Again, expecting something in return for basic human decency and kindness is not correct – but at times the kindness we give comes back to us in ways we least expect. That is exactly what happened to Mili.

More than a survival thriller, Mili is a social commentary on human predicament and life as we know it. The world might be a cold, brutal place full of terrible people but the few good ones make it a somewhat nicer place.

Deepansh Duggal is an entertainment, pop-culture and trends writer based in New Delhi. He specializes in op-eds based on the socio-political and gender issues in the world of entertainment and showbiz. He also writes explainers and occasionally reviews shows in the OTT space. He tweets at @Deepansh75. 

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