Wish the quality of the film, sound and acting were more consistent. Very distracting when the commercials (on one of our local Asian stations) kick in! I very much enjoyed Sobhana's luminous performance as Lakshmi and could sympathize with her feelings of isolation and frustration.This movie was filmed in my neighborhood, the Bay Area, and I imagine Lakshmi's feelings are quite common among women in the local Indian community whose husbands hold very demanding high-tech jobs, who are not themselves well-educated or social, and whose children are exhibiting the worst characteristics of spoiled California young adults. Lakshmi did a very brave thing in attempting to become more educated and independent. Too bad it backfired on her because of her husband's jealousy and insecurity.Unfortunately the actress who played Divya made her very one-note and negative for most of the movie; her performance was very soap opera, which may have been the director's fault rather than hers. It did nothing to generate sympathy for her, and in fact made one more sympathetic toward her mother's character. Not a good thing, as Lakshmi was too judgmental and interfering in her daughter's life. Lakshmi was right, of course - her daughter was too young and immature to live on her own and made the expected terrible decision in choosing her first boyfriend. Maybe Indian mothers haven't caught on to the fact that the surest way to drive a daughter into the arms of the wrong boy is to forbid her from seeing him! That said, Divya's almost instant transformation from bratty teen to friend and confidante of her mother's was hard to believe. The ending was pretty silly, actually, and I never really figured out who the mysterious Internet presence was. If it was the husband, why didn't he seem to know anything about it and why wasn't he wearing a yellow shirt? It clearly wasn't Steve.........guess I will have to watch again.

Mitr, my friend, gives voice to women, who are lonely and go through what Lakshmi has gone through in this movie. Though it is very unlikely, that woman in U.S. faces such vacuum in her life. It is more appropriate in the countries like India, where it is still expected from woman to stay back at home and look after her family only, where she still considered to be a second citizen.Only sensitive people can appreciate this movie. Shobhana was superb. Music deserve an applause, Ms. Illayaraja has done a great job, even after so many years, i still enjoys the music of Mitr. time... care.... love.... the most enchanting words for any happy family, it can actually perform miracle in anybody's life. Hats off to Revathi and her crew.

'Mitr' attempts to portray the conflicts experienced by a traditional Indian mother living in the USA. She devotes her life to her family while her teenage daughter and ambitious husband grow increasingly independent.Far from being a Bollywood production, I felt Mitr is closer to being a a high-school drama caught on film, based on its production quality. The lighting was flat and strange (candlelight dinner on a sunny afternoon?). Every line of dialogue was forced and overdone (clearly the director's decision). The audio was plagued by echo (too distant microphones?). The soundtrack was nonstop georgewinston-ey, with cricket chirps dubbed into the nighttime scenes. Mitr boasts "an all female crew," but the the quality of their work does not reflect well on female professionals in the film industry.Mitr is partly redeemed by its strong character development, but it's poor production quality is so distracting that I did not enjoy watching it.

Lakshmi, a traditional Indian woman, marries an American-Indian and lives in America with him and their daughter. Both husband and daughter are "American" (i.e., very independent, living for own self) while Lakshmi lives only to please them. Their lack of concern for her leads her to pursue her own life and the other two feel left out and abandoned, instead. I really enjoyed the story, music, and acting. We had the privilege of having the director herself come to present this movie to our university and were permitted to ask questions. She told us that at first, the all-women technical crew was a fluke, until the final member was chosen, when she decided to stick with all females (though would have compromised had an adequate female not been found). To me, the acting was a bit rough at times, and characters and actions seemed misplaced, silly, or over-Americanized. Otherwise, I really enjoyed it and would recommend it as a good cultural pick.