GIRLS smoking ferociously, dancing a la Bollywood energetically, and living life to the max, as only the movies will allow Indian women (in India) to do. I so did like Angry Indian Goddesses, because it seems a more modern take on India’s women.
I so did like Angry Indian Goddesses, because it seems a more modern take on India’s women and their prevailing issues.
Director Pan Nalin opens the movie with snippets of the female protagonists at their various jobs. There’s singer Madhureeta (Anushka Manchanda), businesswoman Suranjana (Sandhya Mridul), wanna-be actress Joanna (Amrit Maghera), activist Nargis (Tannishtha Chatterjee),sweet housewife Pam (Pavleen Gujral), down-to-earth Laksmi (Rajshri Deshpande) and glamorous photographer Frieda (Sarah-Jane Dias).
We see them together when Frieda gets them over to her family home in Goa, with Laksmi as the maid.
Their camaraderie is a smooth cocktail of laughter. Kudos to the cast.
So what’s the conflict, as is wont to any good movie? Well, Frieda wants to marry Nargis, and Laksmi is hurting over her brother’s incarceration by a barman down the road, and Suranjana is neglecting her daughter for her business. Joanna is made to act according to prescribed perceptions.
But it’s really about rape, and perceptions, as seen on a more superficial level with the policeman’s derision about the upcoming lesbian nuptials. The copper is played by Adil Hussain, whom I remember in Englkish Vinglish!
Reaching the finale was a bit rushed, as there was not enough buildup to the disgust of the community towards the rape and death of Joanna. Perhaps the issue of rape is so headline-strong in Indian society in 2014-2015 that the buildup was deemed unnecessary.
As it stands, the church scene at the end was moving if terribly clichéd as the feeling of outrage was muted. But I got the intended message: We are all responsible for what happens in society, be it rape, death or revenge murder.
Thank you Netflix for running this movie.