'Maa Behen' Movie Ending Explained & Summary: Who Asked For The Ransom?

Suresh Triveni’s black comedy drama Maa Behen starring Madhuri Dixit, Tripti Dimri and Dharna Durga revolves around a mother and her two daughters. The three central characters, Rekha, Jaya and Sushma (hello washing powder Nirma!) are portrayed as the three witches and the constant presence of a black cat is just another nod to the whole witch trope. In a patriarchal society, a witch is a woman (usually unmarried, divorced, or widowed) who refuses to abide by societal norms and is therefore considered a threat. The ‘sleeveless’ blouse-wearing, bold and attractive Rekha is considered an omen in the Adarsh colony. Why you may ask, because of her sleeveless blouse! How can a woman from a ‘decent’ family flaunt her arms without any hesitation, how can she massage her husband on the terrace, or even innocently stare at the view outside without any ulterior motive? Therefore the women of the colony try to protect their husbands and sons from Rekha’s lustful gaze but sometimes they fear that her dark aura is far too strong for their men to resist!

Spoiler Alert

Why did Jaya throw her husband out of her house?

Rekha’s eldest daughter, Jaya, was known for her innocent looks and sly intent, well at least that’s the version of the ‘well-reputed’ members of Adarsh colony. In the course of the film we discover that Jaya desperately wanted to move out of the shadow of her mother because from a young age she had figured that her mother had an ill reputation and therefore she felt the need to become an ‘ideal’ woman who would be accepted by society. But she eventually realizes that women regardless of whether they are ideal or fallen are never rewarded by society. When her childhood best friend, Rati, received a marriage proposal from an influential family from Patna, Jaya went to her house to help her family entertain the groom and his family. She was in the kitchen making rotis when the groom, Manas, noticed her, instantly fell in love with her and demanded to marry her. The rumour obviously painted Jaya as the villain, it was said that Jaya had lured Manas to the kitchen with her lustful gaze and she was responsible for intentionally ruining her best friend’s chance to marry into a ‘decent’ family. Jaya didn’t really have much of a say when Manas announced that he wanted to marry her, she figured going away from her mother and her half-sister would be good for her. But soon after marrying Manas she discovered that he had a low sperm count and therefore she couldn’t get pregnant. She was so afraid of being labelled a witch for not conceiving (even though it wasn’t her fault) that she decided to get an IVF done without the knowledge of her husband and his family. She wanted to fit in but every time she saw Manas spend time with Sushma and make online content with her, she felt betrayed, both by her husband and her half-sister. 

Jaya never stopped caring about her mother which is why when she received a call from Rekha stating that she had a dead body in her house, she rushed to help her without thinking about the repercussions (I’ll discuss the dead body situation later in the article). Unfortunately, Manas showed up at Rekha’s house when Jaya didn’t return home after spending a day at her mother’s. They tried to hide the body from him but one night things got a little out of control and Jaya couldn’t really explain what she was doing in a closed room and why a loud noise came from the room. Jaya was initially scared, she couldn’t tell her husband that the neighbour, Mr. Gupta, was locked in the room, but then she realized she didn’t really have to explain anything to her worthless husband. She was frustrated with the life she was forced to live after marriage, most of her days were spent making perfect rotis for Manas’ family while her husband ignored her. She had to live with this constant fear of being called an infertile woman and she had even thought of lending over five lakhs just to get the IVF treatment. But she ultimately figured neither the physical labour nor the worry that she had to take was worth it. She hated Manas, a man-child who never had to work a single day in his life and could live off his family’s wealth. She knew she would be called names if she divorced him but she didn’t care anymore, she refused to spend a single minute living in fear and so she pushed her husband out of her mother’s house and promised to send him the divorce papers (good riddance)!

Who is Sushma’s father?

After Rekha lost her husband to electrocution when she was 25, she fell in love with a man and got pregnant. Of course, her unexpected pregnancy became a topic of discussion among the people of Adarsh colony but Rekha chose not to care and raise both her daughters all alone. When Sushma, as a child, kept asking her mother who her father was, she was told that the moon was her father. Sushma innocently believed Rekha and when the neighbour’s daughter, Goldie, joked about her absent father she ended up punching her so hard that she lost two teeth and had to get gold-plated false teeth and that was basically how she got the nickname, Goldie. Sushma was extremely sentimental about her father and it was only after Gupta Ji’s mysterious disappointment that she learned about her father’s identity. 

Rekha had been stealing money from the liquor shop she worked at, and Gupta Ji found out about it. He’d threatened to expose her so she invited him to play cards at her house. As it turned out, Rekha had planned to introduce Gupta Ji and Chandru, Sushma’s father, and hoped that the two men could have a conversation and come to a solution that wouldn’t cost her job. But Gupta Ji stormed into her house and attempted to force himself on her, when she pushed him away, he banged his head on a wardrobe, slipped on a stool, hit his head on a stone and ultimately collapsed to the ground. Rekha initially thought he was dead but it eventually became clear that he had suffered a concussion and was alive. So, Chandru fled from the scene and Rekha decided to secretly meet him again at the wine shop. This time Jaya and Sushma followed her and Rekha finally disclosed to Sushma that Chandru was her father. We discovered that Rekha had already handed over 3 lakhs to him. Rekha genuinely thought Chandru was in love with her and together they would start a security agency but for that they had to make a deposit of 5.5 lakh to start their business. But soon Chandru showed his true colours. He’d never been in love with Rekha, he simply took advantage of her all these years, he wasn’t an army colonel, he was a wanted criminal who planned on running away with the money she’d risked her life for. Chandru snatched the bag that had the remaining 2.5 lakhs and ran away with the money and Rekha was left completely devastated. Sushma was also heartbroken, knowing that her father was a criminal was a tough pill for her to swallow. All these years she thought her father was a good man, he was a ray of hope for her and perhaps not knowing him was better than finding out the truth. 

How did Rekha, Jaya and Sushma deal with Gupta Ji?

Rekha, Jaya and Sushma eventually realized that they had to stand by each other because no one else cared about them. Rekha’s dream of starting a business with Chandru and spending the rest of her life with him was over, Jaya was done pretending to be a perfect housewife and Sushma discovered that her father was a fraud and in an attempt to become a viral sensation she had deeply offended her sister. She was never romantically attracted to Manas, she made videos with him for reach but she regretted doing so after finding out that Jaya was emotionally affected by it. The misunderstanding between the mother and her two daughters underlines that all three of them were flawed individuals (like any other human being!) who did what they thought was for the best but life had other plans. 

Before Rekha, Jaya and Sushma could figure out how to deal with Gupta Ji, Rekha watched him walk back to his home with his hands and mouth tied. She realized that they didn’t lock him up properly and he managed to escape. Interestingly, Gupta Ji didn’t reveal any details even after returning home. He remained completely silent and it was assumed that he had suffered a severe concussion. But we soon discover that Gupta Ji was absolutely fine, he was pretending as if the kidnapping had left him psychologically disturbed, but in reality he was scheming to trap Rekha again. Gupta had always lusted for Rekha, and he was the one who had spread dirty rumours about her character. Every time Rekha tried to come up with a new business idea to sustain herself and her family, he tried to ruin it. He turned beastly when Rekha started a cyber cafe business, he’d spread a rumour in Adarsh colony that Rekha allowed men to watch sexually explicit videos there and that was why men flocked to her cafe. But it was just a regular cafe and men possibly went there to ogle at Rekha. Gupta framed a narrative where Rekha was villainised and he blamed her for turning men lustful and he instigated a group of men to take action and together they vandalised her cafe. Rekha had no choice but to hide in a room with Jaya and Sushma while the men of the colony ransacked her house. When her daughters panicked, she played board games with them to keep them calm. The one thing that Jaya and Sushma had realized was that their mother could do anything just to protect them and therefore they owed it to her to help her overcome this situation. Gupta called Rekha and told her that his family had already found evidence against her, the sleeveless blouse that she’d used to tie his mouth. He added that if he gave his statement in support of the evidence then Rekha would have spent the rest of her life in prison. Gupta proposed that Rekha hand over her house to him if she didn’t want him to give a statement to the cops.

In Maa Behen’s ending, Rekha prepared to spend the rest of her life in prison because she refused to let go of her house since it was all that she had left to pass on to her daughters, and that was when Jaya came up with an idea. All her life, Jaya had tried to prove that she was a good woman but she realized that once society makes an assumption about a woman’s character it’s impossible to change their mind, so the best she could do now is use the allegation that everyone made about her and her family to their advantage. She invited Gupta to ‘Kripa Nivas’ (their house) and he was shocked when he saw Rekha, Jaya and Sushma dressed in silk lingerie with red lipstick on. A part of him wondered what their true intention was, but then again he was blinded by lust. He thought Rekha and her daughters were so scared of losing their house that they were ready to do anything to please him. He’d always fantasised about Rekha giving him a massage and finally his dream came true but it wasn’t quite how he had pictured it. While the massage was comforting, he soon discovered that Sushma had recorded a video of Gupta misbehaving with them and taking immense pleasure in watching them dance and give him a massage. They threatened to upload the video if he dared to make a statement to the cops. They had also sent the video to Gupta’s wife and nephew (a policeman). His wife was shocked to see Gupta in ‘Kripa Nivas’, while she was busy planning her daughter’s wedding, her husband was making a fool of himself. Gupta didn’t think Sushma would upload the video online because the women were in lingerie and it would bring shame upon them. Hearing his statement, Rekha, Jaya and Sushma broke into laughter, they didn’t really have a reputation to protect and therefore they were free to do whatever they wanted. These women were free of societal expectations and while at first they thought it was a curse, they eventually realized it was their greatest boon. They were free, they had nothing to lose and no one to be scared of. Gupta walked out of their house, defeated, even his wife knew deep down that her husband’s lust had gotten him into trouble. 

Who asked for the ransom?

When Gupta went missing, his wife received a call asking for ransom. Maa Behen doesn’t reveal who had taken the ransom until the very end. At first it seemed Rekha might have asked for the money, but then she repeatedly stated with confidence that she never asked for ransom. If it wasn’t the mother or even her two daughters, then who could it possibly be? At the very end, we discover that Gupta’s daughter, Goldie, had used the situation to her advantage. When her father went missing, she figured it was the right time to pretend to be the kidnapper and ask for a ransom. She needed the money to elope because she didn’t want to marry the man her family had chosen for her. So, she basically stole the 5-5.5 lakhs from her own family, eloped from her own wedding, to participate in a reality show. Instead of constantly keeping a watch on his neighbour, Gupta should have focused on his own family and listened to what his daughter really wanted. He always spoke about the importance of honour and reputation to live in a society, but here he was, stripped of it all, his daughter must have become the talk of Adarsh colony, people likely gossiped behind his back about how he failed to be a good father, and he had lost the respect of his wife and nephew as well. What a perfect ending to a modern witchy tale! 

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