- An immigrant Indian mother's battle against the Norwegian foster care system and local legal machinery to win back the custody of her children.
- Debika Chatterjee an Indian women living in Norway with her husband Aniruddha and two children Subh and Shuchi.Sia and Matilda two officials from Velfred organization make them daily visits for evaluation on parenting and one day suddenly snatch away both their children citing unfit parents.Debika is termed as an insane mother and accused of not taking care of her children while Aniruddha is much more worried about his citizenship rather then getting back his kids.Sunil Kapoor an Indian lawyer appointed by the government manages to win back the custody of children to Debika but last moment the organization changes their mind to allot the custody.The case further goes to more higher court this time new lawyer Daniel Singh Cuipek is appointed on the case where Debika feels he is justifying on side of the organization.Debika soon finds that Velfred is a big scam which lures many with high paying jobs and later snatch away their children citing parents are unfit to take care, where all top officials are involved.Debika finds no support from Aniruddha and steals her children from their foster parents and about to leave Norway but she is arrested on the Sweden border.—alex.mjacko@gmail.com
- Debika's (Rani Mukerji) children (Shubha (Yuvaan Vanvari) & Suchi (Irha Ali)) are whisked away by Norway's child welfare service officers (Sia (Kart Tammjarv) and Matilda (Britta Soll)), and she injures herself very badly while trying to chase them. Debika and her husband Aniruddha (Anirban Bhattacharya) are informed that they aren't fit to parent their own children because of their unhygienic practices (feeding kids by hand, instead of using a spoon, mixing flour by hand, forgetting to bring Shubha's homework to school) and since Aniruddha doesn't help Debika in terms of looking after the kids and household chores.
The Norwegian Child Welfare Services kept a watchful eye on Debika, Aniruddha, and the way that they take care of Shubo and Suchi. They secretly take notes about Debika and Aniruddha's activities. They inconvenience them by meddling with Suchi's vaccination schedule. And without giving any intimation about their next plans, they essentially kidnap the two kids, causing even more stress to the couple, who are trying to adjust to the customs of Norway.
The Norwegian government assigns them a lawyer Sunil Kapoor who comes close to assuring the authorities that there's been a misunderstanding due to cultural differences, and it seems that the Chatterjee are going to get their children back. But the child welfare services reverse the release order, which essentially begins Debika's two-year-long separation from her son and daughter. Welfare services informs them that a co-mother from the school provided new testimony (that proves that Debika is mentally unfit) and hence there has been a stay order on the release and the matter will now be heard by the District Court. Debika goes berserk at hearing this and goes on a rampage trying to find her kids. All of this is recorded by the welfare services officers to later prove that Debika is a mentally unfit mother. Sunil is removed from the case as the Government felt that he got too emotionally involved with it. Debika wanted her own lawyer, but Aniruddha refused since a private lawyer would have cost too much.
Debika calls her father (Bodhisattwa Majumder) & Mother (Saswati Guha Thakurta) and informs them about the evolving situation, who decide to come to Norway.
Norway boasts about its economy and lifestyle to attract immigrants. Once these immigrant families get there, they're inundated with all kinds of rules and regulations on top of the regular stuff that they're following. When they fail to comply, they put their kids into foster care and put them up for adoption. The money that comes from this process benefits the welfare center and the lawyers who fight for and against them. Actually, any child who gets into a foster family is lucky because if they don't, as per the film, they go off for child prostitution.
Debika's husband, Aniruddha insisted that Debika marry him, move to Norway, have kids, look after the kids, and look after him (because he can't do a single thing on his own). His one and only priority is acquiring his Norwegian citizenship, and for that, he's apparently ready to let go of his kids and his wife. And in addition to all that, he constantly demeans Debika publicly and physically abuses her at home. This man can't even imagine helping Debika with household chores and looking after his kids because he thinks doing his job and earning money is enough.
Debika's friend Nandini (Charu Shankar) comes forward and introduces her to Rabia (Roopangi Vanvari). Rabia is also a lawyer, but her degree is not recognized in Norway. She tells Debika about how Norway runs the foster home business and the state her children are currently in. Debika wants Aniruddha to continue pursuing the case, but he is not keen as he is about to get his Citizenship. Aniruddha does not trust Nandini as Nandini's husband Sarkar (Varun Vazir) is his co-worker and it was Sarkar's complaint about domestic violence that put the Chatterjee on the authorities radar in the first place. Debika is desperate and visits the foster home where her kids are being kept. She enters the home by stealth, takes her kids and escapes to Sweden by train. But the authorities arrest her at the Swedish train station and send her back to Norway. Aniruddha is livid and back home he hits Debika so hard that she breaks her hand.
Daniel Ciupek (Jim Sarbh), the second lawyer that the Norwegian government assigns to the Chatterjees, fights against the welfare services. He highlights how the welfare services do not have the budget to take care of the children they are whisking away, and he even alleges that they are guilty of the increase in child prostitution in Norway. He even brings up Berit Hansen (Sara Soulie) (kindergarten teacher at Velrfred, who testified against Debika and said that she is an unfit mother) to make a case against the childcare welfare services, claiming that they aren't taking proper care of the children and are wrongfully painting mothers such as Debika as mentally unstable. In court Berit says that she has videos of Shubh crying all the time and she was the one who contacted Debika with the address of the foster home. But her phone was kept by Velrfred and she was fired from her job. She claims that had she complained, her kids would have been taken away by Velrfred. The prosecuting lawyer dismisses Berit as a disgruntled employee.
Debika doesn't help Daniel by constantly interrupting court proceedings, making unprompted remarks and adding credence to the prosecution contention that Debika is unstable and unpredictable. Norwegian government and its justice system are talking on the basis of facts and figures while observing how both parties (the Chatterjee and the welfare services) are wrong in their own ways. But they side with the welfare services at the end of the day on the basis of the video of Debika's behavior at the welfare center when she was not allowed to pick up her kids.
Debika's parents return to India as their visa has expired and Aniruddha now calls his parents to live with them. Aniruddha's father, mother (Mithu Chakraborty), and brother Anurag (Soumya Mukherjee). Aniruddha's parents constantly poke Debika instead of helping her with the whole situation.
Vasudha Kamat (Neena Gupta), the Indian Foreign Minister, arrives in Norway for a Telecom deal and immediately puts it on hold after learning about Debika's plight. This forces the Norwegian government to settle the situation as quickly as possible because it's a bad look for them. Kamat assigns Madhusudhan, a government official, to look over the case. After realizing how much pain they've caused, though, the public support her and even carry out rallies against the Norwegian government and the justice system with the demand that Shubh and Suchi be returned to Debika. Most of the South Asian citizens in Norway, with the exception of the translator Harman Mehta for the welfare services, stand unanimously behind Debika, especially the mothers who have been harmed by the authorities and are aware of Debika's abusive husband.
Harman convinces Aniruddha's brother to become the foster parents to the kids, in exchange for money. Harman tells Aniruddha that he will split the money 50:50 with Velrfred as part of the deal. When the offer is presented, Debika is skeptical as she doesn't want her kids in the control of her in-laws. Madhusudhan convinces Debika to put children Anurag's custody so that Debika can take care of them once they return to India. Anurag takes money (Rs 50 Lakhs per child per year) from the welfare services to become Shubh and Suchi's foster father until they turn 18. He promises that, after returning to India, he's going to give them back to Debika and then refuses to do so, even though he or his parents are unfit to take care of the kids. When Aniruddha and his family back out of this deal and refuse to let Debika see her children, Madhusudhan offers some words of solace, and Kamat is nowhere to be seen.
Aniruddha's in-laws refuse to give the child to Debika while taking money from the Norwegian government, as Aniruddha's brother is Shubh and Suchi's foster father. But the real kicker comes when Aniruddha, while in Norway, forces Debika to divorce him. So, she's already fighting against Aniruddha's in-laws over the custody of the kids. If she signs the divorce papers, she has to fight a totally different case. That's why, before going ahead with the divorce, she signs up Ms. Pratap (Balaji Gauri) to deal with the in-laws for the custody of the children.
However, that's when Daniel enters the picture again, on behalf of the Norwegian government, and argues that neither Aniruddha's brother nor Debika is fit to take care of the children and that they should be returned to Norway, where they'll get care, educational guidance, and job opportunities that Debika and India won't be able to provide. Aniruddha and Anurag both testify that Debika is mentally unstable. Anurag gives up all rights to the kids and agrees that they should be sent back to Norway. After three days of intense to-and-fro between the three parties, Pratap proves that Debika is completely fit to take care of Shubh and Suchi and that she should have them back. Debika fought with the Norway Government, the Swedish Government, involved the Indian Government and the legal systems of 2 countries to get custody of her kids. Daniel agrees with this verdict, and Aniruddha and his in-laws boil into their personal hell.
Before the credits roll, we learn that Sagarika, on whom the character Debika is based, is currently living happily with her children.
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