Selfie Mummy Google Daddy review: Srujan Lokesh and Meghana Raj Sarja’s film is a must watch for modern-day parents

3.5/5

Story: Surya (Srujan Lokesh) and Shalini (Meghana Raj Sarja) and their two kids, Aishu and Api, are like any other modern-day urban nuclear family. The parents are working professionals, so the children find themselves home alone for a good part of the day after they return from school. Even when Surya and Shalini are home, he has to follow up on work and she has the responsibilities of running the household to look after, while also pursuing her favourite pastime – taking selfies and posting them on social media.

For Aishu and Api, and most of their friends in the apartment, playtime means being on their gadgets with the latest games in the confines of their home rather and not anything outdoorsy. Their gadget dependency gets to a point that their school threatens to expel them. Exasperated and desperate to find a solution, Surya and Shalini turn to a counsellor, who suggests that the presence of a grandparent could make all the difference for the children. But when that too fails, they are directed to a mobile de-addiction centre. Will this solve their problem?

Review: Recently, when I was handed a hard-copy photograph, my reaction was to pinch it in the centre in an attempt to zoom in. The gravity of my folly hit me pretty hard at just how attuned we are to using our mobile phones, more precisely, touchscreen devices, for just about everything. Selfie Mummy Google Daddy is a film for people like me, whose lives revolve around gadgets, which I am guessing there are very many of.

The film, directed by Madhuchandra R, has been produced by a bunch of 80 parents, which, in itself, is testimony to the fact that mobile phone addiction is a burning issue, made far worse by the pandemic. Prior to the pandemic, gadget dependency in young kids was a widely discussed topic, with increased physical activity advocated as the best alternative. All of this went for a toss when Covid forced everyone indoors and everyone’s life became about being tied to gadgets.

But what makes Selfie Mummy Google Daddy even more pertinent is that it not only addresses mobile phone addiction, but the reasons too, with the finger pointing squarely at modern-day parenting. In an early scene in the film, during a parent-teacher meeting, the teacher asks the gathering why a mobile screen is seen as a good option to distract young ones and feed them, when one generation earlier, their parents managed by telling them stories and showing them the moon, to which Surya (Srujan) responds that for people in apartments, the view outside is that of the next building.

In the film, the solution offered is a mobile phone de-addiction centre, where, the parents and not the kids have to be enrolled, as the first action point. It reinforces the message that adults need to maintain a work-life balance to be able to spend quality time with their young ones and engage them in physical activities. More importantly, it addresses a major issue with modern-day parenting, where we overlook the circumstances that we grew up in, the games we played, come sunshine or rain, which we now shelter our kids from. We enjoyed splashing around in muddy puddles, climbed trees, ran barefoot and enjoyed our time in the sun, but would we let our kids do that? These are some of the questions that this film raises.

This is a film that most parents will relate to. The solution it offers just skims the surface of the problem, which is quite deep-rooted and will take a lot more to bring in a change. The film reminds us, though, that there’s still hope and that it’s not too late to make actionable efforts and bring about a change.

Selfie Mummy Google Daddy’s biggest plus point is its casting. Srujan Lokesh and Meghana Raj have known each other for years, so there’s an easy-going chemistry between them, which works just right for the film. Srujan, in particular, is at his A game in a role in which he doesn’t have to do anything larger-than-life and just be his usual self, which audiences of his TV shows may be familiar with. His mother, Girija Lokesh, fills in as his onscreen mom, in a delightful cameo. Meghana’s father, Sunder Raj, too makes a quick appearance in the film. There are a bunch of child artistes too, who are quite good, especially the two playing Aishu and Api, Baby Shree and Master Alaap.

Verdict: The subject of Selfie Mummy Google Daddy is not new. We all know that there is gadget dependency among everyone, from the young to the old, and there is no getting away from it. We are a technology-dependent generation, but are we doing enough to limit it? That’s the question this film raises. It just doesn’t provide the most well-rounded answer.