‘Wonder Women’ Review: Anjali Menon Delivers A Strong Yet Subtle Feminist Film

However, Wonder Women does fall into the traditional approach of glorifying pregnancy and motherhood to the point where women who bear children are called superheroes.

For all the physical and mental pain the women go through, they deserve to be called that, but it also lets us raise a question. Is it implied that you are a bad person if you do not prioritize motherhood over anything else you value, such as your career or your decision to not have children?

We are made to love Nora more as she chooses motherhood over her ambition. Nadia says she feels unlucky because she lost her kid and finds happiness only through another woman’s child who was born on the same day of her labour. Even in the final act, the film settles for a happy ending in which everyone celebrates Jaya’s child’s safe birth. I was curious about what would have happened if it didn’t.

While it was the filmmaker’s writing choice, I think that one of the important stances that the film took with respect to whether children should be the primary parameter for a woman to feel complete (through the dialogue that I had mentioned earlier) could have been more visually effective with the alternate climax.

The women in the film are from diverse socio-economic and linguistic backgrounds. However, I’m sceptical about how Wonder Women will cater to the diverse Indian audience. With dialogue predominantly in English and a few lines in multiple languages like Hindi, Tamil, or Malayalam that come with subtitles, I feel the film restricts itself to English-speaking audiences in the country. While I understand that dubbing it in any one Indian language would remove the film’s core identifier of multilingualism, I sincerely believe that a film with such a beautiful message should also reach out to a non-English speaking audience.

In all honesty, Wonder Women is an earnest attempt at exploring women’s friendships. It is also a strong and subtle attempt at feminist films. It questions patriarchy all while being inclusive about the men who falter. It opens its arms with an intent to welcome change and not just corner people with regressive thoughts.

It is streaming now on SonyLiv.