Mrs. Chatterjee Vs Norway (2023)

An immigrant Indian mother fights the Norwegian foster care system and legal machinery to win back custody of her children. Mrs Chatterjee Vs Norway is a 2023 Indian Hindi-language legal drama film written and directed by Ashima Chibber[4]. It stars Rani Mukerji, Anirban Bhattacharya, Neena Gupta and Jim Sarbh in lead roles.[4][5] The film is inspired by the real life story of an Indian couple whose children were taken away by Norwegian authorities in 2011.[6][7] It was released on 17 March 2023.

Devika live in Stavanger with her husband Anirudh, son Shubh and five months old daughter Shuchi. Sia and Matilda of Velfred, a child welfare service visits them regularly and snatch Shubh and Shuchi during the last meeting. The Chatterjee’s are shocked and they are told that they can’t hold custody of their child as they are unfit to do so. Devika decides to fight the government and get her children’s custody back. During the course of the case, Debika finds out shocking truths regarding the child custody system in Norway that prompts her to take a significant step. What happens next forms the rest of the film. Following the release of the film, Norwegian ambassador Hans Jacob Frydenlund criticized the movie stating that, “it incorrectly depicts Norway’s belief in family life and our respect for different culture”.[17] This was countered by Sagarika Chakraborty who condemned the statements made by him adding, “When the whole world can see is the bond between me and my kids. The Norwegian Government continues to spread lies about her without even knowing her story”. She also said that she’s getting a lot of love from all over the world and people want to come and meet her after the film. Sagarika said that the Indian Government has helped her immensely. Activists called for the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) to take a stronger interest in child custody cases in the West, as the launch of the movie Mrs. Chatterjee vs Norway, that focuses on the diplomatic row between India and Norway in 2011, sheds light on cases where parents lose custody of their children over cultural differences in their upbringing. The movie also has parallels to the ongoing dispute involving a child in Germany.