“Don’t Glorify Your Mother’s Pain”: Mona Singh on Why Prime Video’s Maa Ka Sum Feels Different

Mona Singh is quite literally on a roll of late. After surprising everyone with her fierce, never-before-seen avatar as mafia queen Babli Didi in Prime Video’s Subedaar, she is turning the tables in a completely different role with Maa Ka Sum. This time, Mona plays Vinitha, a modern single mother navigating love, life, and self-discovery on her own terms. At the heart of this coming-of-age drama series is a dynamic you don’t see often. A 19-year-old math whiz trying to “solve” his mother’s love life using mathematics, algorithms, and logic, while she’s simply trying to feel something real again. Mona Singh talks about why her character is different from stereotypical mom roles and what drew her to this role.

Mona Singh shares, “I’ve played mothers before, but Vinita felt very different to me. She’s not written as this perfect, sacrificing figure we’ve seen for years. For the longest time, we’ve put mothers on a pedestal, where their entire identity is about giving and giving. But Vinita breaks away from that. She’s a mother, yes, but she’s also a woman with her own life, her own choices, her own desires. She wants companionship, she’s open to dating, and she’s figuring things out on her own terms. That honesty is what really drew me to the character; it felt real and very today.” She adds, “I feel it’s important, especially for younger audiences, to see their mothers as individuals first. They have dreams, emotions, and a life beyond just being a parent. If this story can make people understand and accept that a little more, I think that’s a beautiful takeaway.”

Produced by Babita Ashiwal under the banner of Eunoia Films, Maa Ka Sum is an emotionally resonant Prime Original series directed by Nicholas Kharkongor and written by Ravinder Randhawa and Sumrit Shahi. It features Mona Singh, Mihir Ahuja, Angira Dhar, and Ranveer Brar in the lead roles. Maa Ka Sum will premiere exclusively on Prime Video in Hindi, with subtitles in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam, on April 3.