A nonetheless from Wonder Women trailer. (courtesy: SonyLiv)

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 girls from different backgrounds and of various inclinations enrol in a prenatal class and type out their anxieties and misgivings with out making heavy climate of it in Wonder Women, an English-language movie written and directed by Anjali Menon. At as soon as breezy and insightful, it thrives on its restraint and the management it brings to bear upon its well-spaced dramatic eruptions.

Buoyed by positive performances from a bunch of completely solid actors, Wonder Women, out on SonyLIV, is primarily a couple of group of ladies speaking being pregnant and on the lookout for a method to not let their very own apprehensions or their companions’ expectations queer the method. But it is not merely about mothers within the making. The script additionally components in a calibrated commentary on the social and psychological dimensions of the act of child-bearing. That lends the movie a further dimension.

The few days that the six women spend at a centre not solely prepares them for childbirth but in addition serves to change (or strengthen) their perspective on their id as girls and rights as people. Never didactic or prescriptive, Wonder Women is about disparate people tiding over their worries and on the lookout for pleasure and fulfilment.

Wonder Women, produced by Ronnie Screwvala’s RSVP and Ashi Dua Sara’s Flying Unicorn Entertainment, packs into its compact 80 minutes various and illuminating responses to the emotional, psychological and bodily ramifications of being pregnant. Each girl attending the classes has her personal set of issues, however as they make progress and open up with one another they study to seek out widespread floor.

The characters are sharply written. Even those that appear to be considerably missing by way of detailing – inevitable in a movie this quick and candy – don’t get crowded out of the story.

Two of the important thing actors within the solid – Parvathy Thiruvothu and Nithya Menen – have labored with the director earlier than with equally spectacular outcomes. The duo is on the prime of their sport, respiration life into Wonder Women by fleshing out two temperamentally opposed girls who propel a big a part of the story.

Amruta Subhash, enjoying a small-town Marathi girl who’s barely older and extra susceptible than the remainder of the group, provides depth to a movie through which the appearing benchmark is already impressively excessive due to the presence of veteran Nadhiya Moidu (sensible within the position of the lady who runs the being pregnant class) and Padmapriya (aptly expressive as one of many expectant girls searching for the previous’s steerage).

The solid is accomplished by Archana Padmini and Sayanora Philip (the playback singer debuts as an actor right here), each of whom maintain their very own in a vivid smorgasbord of experiences that add as much as a feel-good drama. What is explicit noteworthy is that Wonder Women doesn’t need to resort to facile strokes or attempt too laborious to attain its avowed finish.

The fantastically orchestrated story of ladies disowning what hinders and embracing what liberates has nary a false stroke. The full of life and tender movie is pleasingly non-judgmental. Among the characters it throws into its narrative crucible are Mini (Parvathy Thiruvothu), a reticent however assertive girl on the verge of changing into a single mom within the midst of a authorized wrangle; Saya (Sayanora Philip), an single singer who’s carrying her boyfriend’s little one; Jaya Sawant (Amruta Subhash), a girl grappling with an advanced being pregnant and a bunch of uncertainties; and Veni (Padmapriya), a lawyer who has put her skilled ambitions on maintain for marriage and motherhood.

Also within the combine are Bengaluru entrepreneur Nora Joseph (Nithya Menen), an Architecture course dropout who plans to open an artwork cafe together with her husband, and Gracy (Archana Padmini), who works at Sumana, the prenatal conditioning centre, and is the one one among the many registrants who has been a mom earlier than.

Wonder Women steers away from the sententious in its method to the a number of points that confront the six women as they put together to usher in a brand new part of their lives. Without losing any footage or verbiage, Anjali Menon’s unpretentious screenplay and self-aware directorial type lend the movie infectious cheeriness and heat whereas it tackles advanced issues with commendable lightness of contact.

Through their phrases and actions, every of the expectant girls in addition to Nandita (Nadhiya Moidu), who runs the category and tells the individuals that they’re actual superheroes as a result of they possess the ability to create and nurture life, reveal conflicting feelings as they prepared themselves for a watershed.

Fears and doubts floor as they take care of their companions. The movie often strikes out of the precincts of Sumana to throw gentle on facets of the lives of the seven girls that assist us perceive them (and normally, their companions too) higher.

Wonder Women is a deal with to look at as a lot for the colourful performances as for the best way through which it skilfully weaves the assorted strands into an uplifting story of discovery and bonding that goes method past the mere incontrovertible fact that these six girls predict and are about to have their lives modified for good.

As Nandita factors out to the sorority of six that they’re completely different from every and but certain by what they’re at the moment going by way of. “Information is Queen,” she says as a physician begins to share important medical information that will turn out to be useful for the women within the weeks forward.

It is not solely with one another that the ladies have to interact, but in addition clearly with the boys of their lives. In a female-centric movie, the boys are perforce secondary gamers. But none of them is insignificant, actually not Saya’s musician-boyfriend Jojo (Praveen Premnath) and Jaya’s restive husband Umesh (Sandesh Kulkarni), who’re all the time by the facet of their girls because the latter attend Nandita’s classes. Sumana staffer Gracy’s safety guard-partner Kannan (Ajayan Adat), a person of restricted means, additionally will get his share of the main focus.

Wonder Women has a straightforward stream till a closing burst of drama is triggered by a flip of occasions that seems like an emergency, forcing the ladies into fast considering and pressing motion. The tone of the movie adjustments at this juncture, but it surely doesn’t come throughout as one thing that’s misplaced.

There are occasional moments of tensile power within the movie, particularly stemming from the fragile and shifting dynamics between Veni and her mother-in-law (Radha Gomati), an outburst late within the movie that pits Nora in opposition to Mini, and a touching heart-to-heart that Jaya has together with her husband.

Wonder Women, delicate, strikingly crafted and disarmingly easy, is Anjali Menon’s fourth movie. It is paying homage to her three earlier movies – Manjadikuru, Bangalore Days and Koode – in addition to her phase within the Kerala Cafe; anthology in some ways, not the least of which is her grasp on the medium. That, coupled with the great performances, makes Wonder Women a wondrous little gem.