Wonder Women: A perceptive take on pregnancy pleasures, pressures, and pain

Not every expecting mother has the luxury to take a two-week break to attend a pre-natal course that teaches breathing techniques, forms support groups, infuses confidence to embrace parenthood, make even your partner understand the journey ahead… and the like.

But, it’s possible that the film 'Wonder Women' might make those who want babies wish they too could access such platforms more easily. After all, as it's often said, parenthood is a lifetime job that you can’t quit, you get into it with no training whatsoever and it has people’s lives at stake!

In 'Wonder Women', you meet a handful of expectant ladies joining a class that teaches them how to handle their minds, bodies, and more, before, during, and after childbirth, preparing them to embrace parenthood.

The Anjali Menon film has many moments that educate and yet remain emotional about the journey towards childbirth and the parallel lives women have to live with their daily struggles. It shows how partners too sometimes struggle to bond with the newfound ‘parent’ status, be at peace with irritable hormones, or how most people hardly know much about women’s rights inside the labour rooms or even about interesting birthing positions. The film offers many such interesting takeaways wrapped in its overall warmth and sweetness.

The many established performers in it including Parvathi Thiruvothu, Nithya Menen and Padmapriya played their characters with ease and so did the other artistes.

There are points when the film, probably unintentionally, puts pregnancy and motherhood on a pedestal – starting with the name itself. In a society that frowns upon women who don’t want or don’t have kids, terming pregnant women ‘superheroes or wonder women’ and the like can come across as silly or uncalled for at certain junctures. Then again, it’s not that tough to defend the usage with the contexts in the film, if need be.

Those planning to have babies or have a perennial baby fever may find the film an interesting watch and the rest of the world, if keen to check it out, may go for it with an open mind. The film is streaming on SonyLIV.