Boycott Germany | How Mrs Chatterjee vs Norway trailer expose Europe | #zee5 #ranimukherjee

Mrs Chatterjee Vs Norway is a 2023 Indian Hindi-language drama film directed by Ashima Chibber and produced by Zee Studios and Emmay Entertainment. It stars Rani Mukerji, Anirban Bhattacharya, Neena Gupta and Jim Sarbh. The film is the true story of an Indian couple, an adaptation based on the mother’s - Sagarika Chakraborty’s autobiography titled ‘THE JOURNEY OF A MOTHER’; whose children were taken away from them by the Norwegian Childcare system (Barnevernet) in 2011. The film is scheduled to release on 17 March 2023.

The story is based on real life case with Sagarika Bhattacharya who was living with her husband Anup Bhattacharya with two children. They moved to Norway for a job. In 2011, their children were taken away by Barnevernet (also known as Norwegian Child Welfare Services) on ground of improper treatment of children. First they appealed in a Norwegian court but failed. Later on they appealed Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India to intervene. Before this Sagarika got separated with her husband and custody of the children were given to their father's brother. In 2013, after she fought a two year long legal battle she was granted custody by Calcutta High Court after intervention by the Indian Government.

CAST
Rani Mukerji as Debika Chatterjee
Anirban Bhattacharya as Mr Chatterjee.

The film was announced in March 2021, starring Rani Mukerji.

Filming
The principal photography of the film started in August 2021. The first schedule took place at Estonia and was completed within 21 September 2021. The film was wrapped up on 18 October 2021.

The movie is based on the story of Sagarika Chatterjee, an Indian mother of two, whose children were taken away from her by the Norwegian Child Welfare Services citing habits that are commonplace in Indian society.

Rani Mukherjee returns to the big screen with her latest film ‘Mrs Chatterjee vs Norway’, set to be released on March 17 this year. The trailer of the film was launched on February 23 and has generated a lot of buzz around the movie, which is based on the real-life story of an Indian woman defiantly standing up to the Norwegian government to reunite with her children.
What had happened? We take a look at the decade-old case and the journey of a mother to move nation-states for the sake of her children.

Sagarika Chakraborty married geophysicist Anurup Bhattacharya and the couple moved to Norway in 2007. A year later, Sagarika would give birth to Abhigyaan, the couple’s first child, who soon showed signs of autism. Thus, in 2010, Abhigyaan would be put in a family kindergarten where he would receive specific care, especially as by this time, Sagarika was pregnant again, with her soon-to-be-born daughter Aishwarya.

Tragedy struck in 2011 when the Norwegian Child Welfare Services, known as the Barnevernet (literally: ‘child protection’) took both Aishwarya and Abhigyaan away from their parents, to be kept at a foster home till they turned 18. Supposedly the couple had been “under observation’’ for months for what Barnevernet termed ‘improper parenting’.
What followed is an over-a-year-long tussle for custody of her children, during which Norwegian authorities claimed that she was ‘mentally unfit’ to raise two children – Sagarika herself was in her late twenties at the time and was not known to be particularly organised or punctual, something that authorities used against her.

Allegations against the couple included sleeping on the same bed as their children, hand feeding (which was seen by Norwegian authorities as force-feeding) and also corporal punishment (Sagarika had allegedly slapped the children once). While these things might seem “normal” in the Indian context, for the Norwegian authorities, it was anything but that.
Notably, Norway does have extremely strict laws regarding children and their upbringing and these laws are universally implemented, regardless of cultural differences.

After Prime Minister Narendra Modi met German Chancellor Olaf Scholz during the latter’s India visit, Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra said the issue of baby Ariha Shah’s custody case is being closely pursued by New Delhi with the German authorities. He said, “This is something of great sensitivity, something which we deeply care about, something on which our embassy has been in very close touch with the parents and the German authorities in trying to find a way forward.”

Ariha’s father, who was an Indian citizen, was posted to Germany on a work visa as a software engineer. In September 2021, Ariha’s paternal grandmother injured the baby by accident. German authorities had taken custody of Ariha alleging that she was being harassed by her parents. When the parents took her to a nearby hospital, they were accused of sexual assault and as a result, the baby was taken from them.
Hashtag ‘boycott Germany’ trended on Twitter after the release of the movie trailer as it shed light on the similar case of baby Ariha where the battle is still on.
#boycottgermany