Mili

About the film

Mili is a 2022 Indian Hindi-language survival thriller film directed by Mathukutty Xavier and produced by Bayview Pictures and Zee Studios. The film stars Janhvi Kapoor in the titular role, alongside Sunny Kaushal and Manoj Pahwa. It is a remake of the director's own 2019 Malayalam-language film Helen. The film follows Mili Naudiyal, who gets stuck in a storage freezer and fights to stay alive.

Principal photography took place from August to November 2021 in Mumbai and Dehradun. The film's music was composed by A. R. Rahman with lyrics written by Javed Akhtar. It was distributed by Zee Studios and released theatrically on 4 November 2022. The film received mixed-to-positive reviews from critics but failed at the box office, though Janhvi Kapoor's performance received praise, earning her a nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actress.

Plot

Mili Naudiyal is a B.Sc Nursing graduate and attends IELTS coaching classes intended for a job abroad, specifically Canada. She works part-time at a restaurant named Doon's Kitchen, located within a plush mall. Mili lives with her father Niranjan Naudiyal, who is against her going to Canada. Unknown to Niranjan, Mili has a boyfriend Sameer Kumar, who also disagrees with her Canada plans.

One night, while Sameer is taking Mili home by scooter, they are stopped by police who penalise him for drunk driving and not wearing a helmet, and they are brought to the police station. Niranjan gets called into the station as well, and is extremely upset with seeing his daughter with a boy who has committed a crime. He does not talk to her for days. Mili also ends all contact with Sameer. He shows up to her workplace to try and reconcile, but is shut down by Mili.

One night after work, Mili is asked by her co-workers to put some boxes in the storage freezer before she leaves. As she is doing so, she is accidentally locked inside by her manager, Sudheer Malkoti, thinking that no one is inside the restaurant. As the temperature slowly decreases, eventually reaching -18 °C, Mili has to survive in the freezing cold temperature. She tries to block the exhaust fan but ends up dislocating her leg. She starts to get frostbite.

Production

In August 2020, Boney Kapoor bought the rights to remake the Malayalam film Helen (2019) in Hindi. The title of the remake, Mili, was announced a year later. Mathukutty Xavier, the director of the original, was retained for the remake too. He recalled in 2021 that he had refused an offer to remake Helen in Hindi, but when contacted by Kapoor who wanted his daughter Janhvi to star in a potential remake, he agreed. Noble Babu Thomas who portrayed a major role in Helen, served as the remake's creative director. Ritesh Shah was hired as the screenwriter to help adapt the script to suit Hindi-speaking audiences. Ranjith Ambady, the makeup artist from the original, was retained in the same position.

Janhvi portrays the title character, Mili Naudiyal. Sunny Kaushal, who portrays Mili's boyfriend, sought not to imitate Noble Babu Thomas, who portrayed the role in the original, but give his own interpretation. Mathukutty Xavier considered having Boney portray Mili's father, but decided against it as he felt it was "gimmicky" to have one's real father portray their screen father too. The role went to Manoj Pahwa.

Principal photography was supposed to have begun in June 2021, but got delayed due to the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in India. It ultimately commenced on 5 August 2021 in Mumbai. The scenes depicting Mili stuck in a storage freezer were shot in an actual storage freezer. These scenes, along with other indoor scenes were filmed in Mumbai, while the scenes depicting the mall where Mili works were filmed in Dehradun due to malls in Mumbai being closed at the time. Janhvi underwent "intense preparation" to portray her character, and said the filming process affected her both "physically and mentally". Filming wrapped on 26 November 2021.

Soundtrack

The music is composed by A. R. Rahman and the lyrics are written by Javed Akhtar. The first single "Sun Aye Mili" was released on 22 October 2022. The second single "Tum Bhi Raahi" was released on 27 October 2022.

Release

Mili was released in theatres on 4 November 2022.

The film began streaming on Netflix from 30 December 2022.

Reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 75% of 12 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6/10.

Mili received mixed-to-positive reviews from critics, with praise for Kapoor's performance, and mixed reviews from audiences.

Sukanya Verma of Rediff.com rated the film 3.5 out of 5 stars and wrote "Mili establishes Janhvi Kapoor as an actor striving to be taken seriously". Bollywood Hungama rated the film 3 out of 5 stars and termed the film as a "gripping thriller" and also praised the performance of Kapoor. Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV rated the film 3 out of 5 stars and wrote "It has its moments and a pivotal performance that demonstrates that Janhvi Kapoor is an actress who has the chops to carry an entire film on her shoulders". Avinash Lohana of Pinkvilla rated the film 3 out of 5 stars and called the film a "sincere attempt" and also appreciated the performance of Janhvi and the latter half, all combined the film doesn't create a strong impact.

Key details