The latest movie by Rani Mukerji, Mrs. Chatterjee Vs. Norway, has elicited a stern response from the Norwegian embassy in India. The real-life occurrence, in which a Norwegian child welfare agency took away an Indian couple’s children under the guise of poor parenting, was the inspiration for the movie, was favourably received by the Norwegian government.
The movie, according to the Norwegian ambassador to India, is a ‘work of fiction’ and contains factual inaccuracies.
Due to cultural disparities in child rearing, the Indian couple in the movie fights a legal struggle to get their children back who have been placed in the Norwegian foster system.
‘Children will never be taken away from their families based on cultural differences described. Eating with their hands or having children sleeping in bed with their parents are not considered practices harmful to children and are not uncommon in Norway, irrespective of cultural background,’ the Norwegian Embassy said in its statement, adding that ‘some general facts must be set right’.
‘The reason for placing children in alternative care is if they are subject to neglect, violence or other forms of abuse.’
Norwegian Ambassador to India, Hans Jacob Frydenlund stated that the country is a democratic, multicultural society.
‘In Norway, we value and respect different family systems and cultural practices, also when these are different to what we are accustomed to – apart from corporal punishment in the upbringing. There is zero tolerance for violence in any shape or form,’ he said in the statement shared on Twitter.
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