Rani Mukerji’s Mrs Chatterjee Vs Norway hit the theatres on Friday, March 17. Norwegian Ambassador to India Hans Jacob Frydenlund has reacted to the movie calling it ‘factually incorrect.’
Sharing a screenshot of the Op-ed he wrote for the Indian Express, Hans tweeted, “It incorrectly depicts Norway’s belief in family life and our respect for different cultures. Child welfare is a matter of great responsibility, never motivated by payments or profit. #Norwaycares.”
My Op-Ed in @IndianExpress today about the film #MrsChatterjeeVsNorway. It incorrectly depicts Norway’s belief in family life and our respect for different cultures. Child welfare is a matter of great responsibility, never motivated by payments or profit. #Norwaycares pic.twitter.com/FpVWmdLv5h
— Ambassador Hans Jacob Frydenlund (@NorwayAmbIndia) March 17, 2023
In the op-ed written for the Indian Express, Hans stated that given Rani Mukerji’s acting ability, it is tough to be unmoved by it, and movie-goers may walk out of the theatres thinking of Norway as an uncaring country.
Criticising the movie makers for a negative portrayal Norway, Hans said that the cultures of the two countries might be different but human instincts are the same. “A mother’s love in Norway is no different from a mother’s love in India,” stated the Norwegian Ambassador to India adding that it is important for him to put forward the Norwegian perspective.
Hans stated that the film has ‘factual inaccuracies’ and the story is a ‘fictional representation of the case’ and that he needs to put forth the ‘Norwegian perspective’.
He said that in the film, cultural differences (between India and Norway) have been shown as the primary factor in the case, which is ‘completely false’. He also ‘categorically’ denied that ‘feeding with hands and sleeping in the same bed would be the reason for placing in alternative care’.
Referring to the real-life case that inspired the film, Frydenlund wrote, “The film projects cultural differences as the primary factor in the case, which is completely false. Without going into any details of this particular case, I categorically deny that feeding with hands and sleeping in the same bed would be the reason for placing children in alternative care. Not in this case and not in any case.”
Giving his own example, Hans stated, “as a father of three, have beautiful memories of the time my children were growing up, of feeding them with my hands, of reading bedtime stories to them as they cuddled and slept in the same bed with us.”
Going forward, he added, “Yes, we have different cultural practices. Yes, we might have different parenting traditions in Norway. But our human instincts are not different. A mother’s love in Norway is no different from a mother’s love in India.”
He also said that he has been in India for nearly four years and experienced “first-hand the deep-rooted pride Indian take in their cultural heritage and rightly so’. He also spoke about how Indians celebrate ‘annual events such as the Bollywood Festival Norway, Oslo Durga Puja and the Mela festival’.
Adding that he hoped the movie would not dissuade Indians from visiting Norway, Hans added, “I sincerely hope this movie will not discourage Indians from coming to Norway. I hope this film will be seen for what it is and I trust the viewers to understand that this is a fictional representation. For those involved, there is no denying that the experience was traumatic.”
Helmed by Ashima Chibber, the trailer of Rani Mukerji starrer Mrs Chatterjee vs Norway begins with a shot of Mrs Chatterjee (Rani) blissfully going about her days in Norway with her husband and two children, Shubh and Shuchi. But, the family is soon in crisis when officers from the country’s child protection authority rush in unannounced and take their children away. What ensues is a fight of the Indian mother against the entire legal system and administration of a foreign country, Norway, to get back her kids.
Story of Sagarika Bhattacharya, the inspiration behind Mrs Chatterjee Vs Norway
The film is inspired by the 2011 true story of NRI couple Sagarika and Anurup Bhattacharya. The couple had gotten married in 2007 and moved to Norway to start their new life.
In 2010, the couple welcomed Avigyan, followed by Aishwarya the following year. Avigyan was apparently diagnosed with “autism-like” symptoms in his early childhood and was placed in a family kindergarten near the family’s house. The family was apparently under Norway’s child welfare service also called Barnevarne’s surveillance for months, and in May 2011, officials removed the couple’s children from their care under the guise of poor parenting and placed them in foster care as per a local Norwegian court’s directive.
They objected to Sagarika hand-feeding the baby, comparing it to forced feeding. They also had issues with children sharing a bed with their parents, which is fairly prevalent in Indian households. They also charged Sagrika with slapping her toddler, as well as the children not having enough room to play in the house and having “unsuitable” clothes and toys.
What followed was two years of upheaval and arduous custody fights, the intervention of the Indian government, multiple protests, and a harsh spotlight on a variety of topics, including cultural differences, racism, the reception and treatment of mental health in women and children, and more.
The CWS, in February 2012, announced that the children would be handed over to Arunabhas Bhattacharya, the children’s uncle and an unmarried dentist. Meanwhile, Sagarika and Anurup’s marriage had broken down.
After the intervention of the Government of India, the Norwegian court overseeing the case allowed the children to return to India in April of that year, under the condition that they reside with Arunabhas.
But still, Sagarika’s battle was far from over. She petitioned the Child Welfare Committee in Burdwan (West Bengal) to have her children transferred to her care. She said that her husband’s parents were unwilling to allow her to visit her children and that the children were being neglected. This claim was backed up by the Child Welfare Committee in their report. Sagarika was certified as psychologically fit to raise her children in November 2012.
According to a report published by NDTV, despite the verdict, police officers refused to let Sagarika reconnect with her children. Sagarika was reunited with her children in April 2012, after months of back and forth between police authorities, the Child Welfare Committee, and the Kolkata High Court.
