Modern Love Mumbai Episode 4 Review: My Beautiful Wrinkles

Modern Love: Mumbai Episode 4, My Beautiful Wrinkles, is the anthology’s boldest chapter. Directed by Alankrita Shrivastava, it stars Sarika as Dilbar, a widow in her sixties who is pursued by a much younger man, played by Danesh Razvi. Our review: a warm, honest episode about desire, ageing and letting go of guilt. It streams on Prime Video.

Quick facts: My Beautiful Wrinkles

What is My Beautiful Wrinkles about?

Dilbar Sodhi is a widow in her sixties who lives alone in a large Mumbai flat. She hosts card evenings with friends her age, where the talk is mostly about husbands, holidays and who said what. Behind the routine, she carries a quiet sadness.

A young man starts visiting her for long chats over coffee, first as an interview subject and then as a friend. One day he tells her he is attracted to her. Dilbar, more than three decades older, is embarrassed and unsettled, and the episode follows how she deals with that.

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Her granddaughter, played by Ahsaas Channa, has her own small heartbreak when a boy she likes calls her unattractive. The two stories run side by side, one about a body that is young and insecure and one about a body that is older and hidden away.

The car in the driveway

The most important image in the episode is a damaged old car parked outside Dilbar’s building. Her husband died in an accident while she was driving, and she has never let the car go.

The car stands for the guilt she has carried for years. Reviewers, including The Indian Express, read it as a symbol of how old trauma wears down both the past and the present. When Dilbar finally deals with the car, it is clear she is also dealing with herself.

Modern Love Mumbai Episode 4 review

Sarika carries the episode

Sarika had been away from the screen for some years, and this was a strong comeback. She plays Dilbar with restraint. Much of the conflict sits in her eyes and pauses rather than in big speeches, and several reviews noted that she holds the episode together.

Danesh Razvi and Ahsaas Channa

Danesh Razvi, known for Mira Nair’s series A Suitable Boy, plays the young man with an easy charm. He never turns the role into a joke or a creep, which the story needed. Ahsaas Channa is good as the granddaughter, though her track feels underwritten and some critics wanted more of it.

Alankrita Shrivastava’s touch

Shrivastava, who made Lipstick Under My Burkha, has always been interested in women’s desire and the way society hides it. Here she treats an older woman’s longing as normal, not shameful or comic. The episode is about loving an ageing body, loving someone older or younger, and knowing when a relationship has to end.

A key moment comes when the young man gives Dilbar a painted portrait of herself. It celebrates the lines and marks she sees as flaws, which is where the episode’s title comes from.

What does not work

Dilbar’s friends are drawn in broad strokes and feel shallow next to her. The social questions the episode raises, about age, gender and what people will say, are mentioned more than explored. These are small complaints in a short film.

How it compares with the other episodes

Modern Love: Mumbai covers many kinds of love. Baai, directed by Hansal Mehta, is about a gay man and his grandmother. Cutting Chai, with Chitrangada Singh and Arshad Warsi, looks at a long marriage. Mumbai Dragon, by Vishal Bhardwaj, is about a Chinese-Indian mother who cannot let her son go.

My Beautiful Wrinkles is the only episode that puts an older woman’s desire at the centre. That makes it the riskiest of the six, and it handles that risk with taste. If you are short on time, watch this one along with Baai.

Verdict

My Beautiful Wrinkles is one of the stronger episodes of Modern Love: Mumbai. It is quiet, adult and kind to its lead character. Watch it for Sarika and for a rare Hindi screen story about a woman over 60 who is allowed to want something for herself.

Modern Love Mumbai in 2026: where to watch and what came next

Modern Love: Mumbai premiered on Prime Video on 13 May 2022 with six episodes, each by a different director, including Hansal Mehta, Vishal Bhardwaj, Shonali Bose, Dhruv Sehgal and Nupur Asthana. It is adapted from the American series based on the New York Times column.

It has had only one season so far. Prime Video followed it with two more Indian editions, Modern Love Hyderabad in Telugu and Modern Love Chennai in Tamil. The other Mumbai episodes are Raat Rani, Baai, Mumbai Dragon, I Love Thane and Cutting Chai.

For more reviews, see our reviews section and our web series coverage.

Frequently asked questions

Sources: Modern Love Mumbai, Wikipedia, Modern Love (TV series), Wikipedia, Modern Love Mumbai streaming, JustWatch India.