Cast: Nadiya Moidu , Nithya Menen ,Parvathy Thiruvothu, Padmapriya, Sayanora Phillip, Archana Padmini, Amruta Subhash
Director: Anjali Menon
Rating: 4 Stars (out of 5)
Six pregnant ladies from numerous backgrounds and of various inclinations enrol in a prenatal magnificence and type out their anxieties and misgivings with out making heavy climate of it in Wonder Women, an English-language movie written and directed through Anjali Menon. At as soon as breezy and insightful, it prospers on its restraint and the manage it brings to undergo upon its well-spaced dramatic eruptions. Buoyed through pleasant performances from a gaggle of flawlessly forged actors, Wonder Women, out on SonyLIV, is ordinarily approximately a set of ladies speaking being pregnant and searching out a manner now no longer to permit their personal apprehensions or their partners’ expectancies queer the process. But it is not simply approximately mothers withinside the making. The script additionally elements in a calibrated observation at the social and intellectual dimensions of the act of child-bearing. That lends the movie an extra dimension. The few days that the six girls spend at a centre now no longer simplest prepares them for childbirth however additionally serves to alter (or strengthen) their attitude on their identification as ladies and rights as people. Never didactic or prescriptive, Wonder Women is set disparate people tiding over their concerns and searching out pleasure and fulfilment.
Wonder Women, produced via way of means of Ronnie Screwvala’s RSVP and Ashi Dua Sara’s Flying Unicorn Entertainment, packs into its compact eighty mins various and illuminating responses to the emotional, mental and bodily ramifications of being pregnant. Each lady attending the classes has her personal set of problems, however as they make development and open up with every different they learn how to locate not unusualplace ground. The characters are sharply written. Even those that appear to be relatively missing in phrases of detailing – inevitable in a movie this brief and sweet – do now no longer get crowded out of the story. Two of the important thing actors withinside the solid – Parvathy Thiruvothu and Nithya Menen – have labored with the director earlier than with further stunning results. The duo is on the pinnacle in their game, respiration existence into Wonder Women via way of means of fleshing out temperamentally antagonistic ladies who propel a big a part of the tale. Amruta Subhash, gambling a small-metropolis Marathi lady who’s barely older and greater susceptible than the relaxation of the group, provides intensity to a movie wherein the performing benchmark is already impressively excessive way to the presence of veteran Nadhiya Moidu (incredible withinside the position of the lady who runs the being pregnant class) and Padmapriya (aptly expressive as one of the expectant ladies looking for the former’s guidance). The solid is finished via way of means of Archana Padmini and Sayanora Philip (the playback singer debuts as an actor here), each of whom preserve their personal in a vibrant smorgasbord of reports that upload as much as a feel-exact drama. What is unique noteworthy is that Wonder Women does now no longer must hotel to facile strokes or attempt too tough to acquire its avowed end.
The fantastically orchestrated tale of ladies disowning what hinders and embracing what liberates has nary a fake stroke. The energetic and smooth movie is pleasingly non-judgmental. Among the characters it throws into its narrative crucible are Mini (Parvathy Thiruvothu), a reticent however assertive lady at the verge of turning into a unmarried mom withinside the midst of a prison wrangle; Saya (Sayanora Philip), an single singer who’s sporting her boyfriend’s child; Jaya Sawant (Amruta Subhash), a lady grappling with a complex being pregnant and a number of uncertainties; and Veni (Padmapriya), a legal professional who has positioned her expert objectives on preserve for marriage and motherhood. Also withinside the blend are Bengaluru entrepreneur Nora Joseph (Nithya Menen), an Architecture route dropout who plans to open an artwork cafe together along with her husband, and Gracy (Archana Padmini), who works at Sumana, the prenatal conditioning centre, and is the handiest one most of the registrants who has been a mom before. Wonder Women steers clean of the sententious in its method to the a couple of troubles that confront the six women as they put together to herald a brand new segment in their lives. Without losing any pictures or verbiage, Anjali Menon’s unpretentious screenplay and self-conscious directorial fashion lend the movie infectious cheeriness and heat even as it tackles complicated subjects with commendable lightness of touch. Through their phrases and actions, every of the expectant ladies in addition to Nandita (Nadhiya Moidu), who runs the elegance and tells the individuals that they’re actual superheroes due to the fact they own the electricity to create and nurture life, monitor conflicting feelings as they equipped themselves for a watershed. Fears and doubts floor as they address their companions. The movie often movements out of the precincts of Sumana to throw mild on elements of the lives of the seven ladies that assist us apprehend them (and in maximum cases, their companions too) better. Wonder Women is a deal with to observe as an awful lot for the colourful performances as for the manner wherein it skilfully weaves the diverse strands into an uplifting story of discovery and bonding that is going manner past the mere truth that those six ladies are anticipating and are approximately to have their lives modified for good. As Nandita factors out to the sorority of six that they’re distinctive from every and but sure with the aid of using what they’re presently going through. “Information is Queen,” she says as a physician starts offevolved to proportion crucial scientific expertise that might are available in on hand for the ladies withinside the weeks ahead. It is not handiest with every different that the ladies must engage, however additionally manifestly with the guys of their lives. In a female-centric movie, the guys are perforce secondary players. But none of them is insignificant, genuinely now no longer Saya’s musician-boyfriend Jojo (Praveen Premnath) and Jaya’s restive husband Umesh (Sandesh Kulkarni), who’re usually with the aid of using the facet in their ladies because the latter attend Nandita’s sessions. Sumana staffer Gracy’s protection guard-companion Kannan (Ajayan Adat), a person of restricted means, additionally receives his proportion of the focus. Wonder Women has an smooth go with the drift till a very last burst of drama is precipitated with the aid of using a flip of occasions that seems like an emergency, forcing the ladies into brief questioning and pressing action. The tone of the movie modifications at this juncture, however it does now no longer stumble upon as some thing this is out of place. There are occasional moments of tensile power withinside the movie, in particular stemming from the sensitive and transferring dynamics among Veni and her mom-in-law (Radha Gomati), an outburst overdue withinside the movie that pits Nora in opposition to Mini, and a touching coronary heart-to-coronary heart that Jaya has together along with her husband. Wonder Women, sensitive, strikingly crafted and disarmingly simple, is Anjali Menon’s fourth movie. It is harking back to her 3 preceding films – Manjadikuru, Bangalore Days and Koode – in addition to her section withinside the Kerala Cafe; anthology in lots of ways, now no longer the least of that is her hold close at the medium. That, coupled with the fantastic performances, makes Wonder Women a wondrous little gem.