The arranged marriage looks promising when Richa (Sanya Malhotra) meets her handsome husband to be, a charming, soft-spoken and seemingly romantic gynecologist from a good, upper-cast family. Their getting to know time is fairytale-like, filled with laughter, happiness, and a promise of a great future together.
“Mrs” screened at Tallinn Black Nights
Not long after the wedding “the doctor of female anatomy” who did at one point say how he loves simple, home-cooked food, starts showing his real, momma”s dearest character. He is a typical product of patriarchal upbringing, unable to function on his own outside of his job. Before she can say honeymoon, Richa is caught up in an endless circle of house chores, in a tiresome duty to please her despotic father-in-law.
Kadev doesn't give you a light digestive. In the script penned by Anu Singh Choudhary that she embraced with determination to address the stiff rules of Indian patriarchy, there are so many things that upset the mind and stomache of the audience, that the tension burns until the closing scene.
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There is a “Stomp”-like opener in which a group of women beat barrels to the cheerful, Bollywwodian beat. It is Richa's dance troupe that starts gaining popularity, with good chances of making it in the show business. What the lead character is unaware of is that she will have to give up her dream of a professional dancer, because women in her husband's family don't work. “My wife has a PhD in Economics, but the family is her priority”, is one of the many lessons in ‘dos and don'ts' that Richa will get from her in-law. Likewise, she is not supposed to use anything that makes the life of a housewife easier. None of the wedding presents she was given (all aimed at a perfect housewife) – mixers, food processors and express coking pots are allowed, because stone grind ingredients taste better: “A grindstone crushes, whereas a mixer just chops. The flavour isn't the same.” The clothes worn by the patriarch should also be washed by hand, because the washing machine doesn't take the sweat stains off.
Many red flags are flying in the young woman's face, and yet she is patiently waiting for the prince charming to show resistance to his father's expectations. Alas, that is not the only problem she has to deal with. The doctor of female anatomy doesn't understand a thing about his wife's body or sexual needs. He is striving for offspring disregarding her pleasure.
The amount of unpleasantness is high in Kadav's feminist drama that premiered in Critics' Picks Competition of Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, and it's hard to believe that this wasn't the plan right from the beginning. In her feature debut, the helmer is joining the new generation of Indian filmmakers whose goal is to break the silence and point out at importance of gender equality. In her demanding, heart-racing tale about patriarchal bullying, there is barely a moment to inhale and exhale with an ‘oom'.
In the film, the best of Bollywood is incorporated without becoming a Bollywood film. It's the love of dance and music that comes out of it, and a great choreography that doesn't impose any problems to the trained ballet dancer and performer that Sanya Malhotra is. She is, so to speak, dancing through the film, and out of the toxic marriage with ease. That is a true fairytale.
Arati Kadav is a name to watch since she has plenty to say, and she knows how to do it.
