Anushka Manchanda in Angry Indian Goddesses. Photo by Charudutt Chitrak.
In the steamy Indian state of Goa, five unconventional women gather to celebrate a friend's forthcoming wedding. They talk, they dance and they joyously refute the patriarchal culture that oppresses and harasses them. With a strong ensemble and high energy, director Pan Nalin is moving this surprising feminist buddy pic toward a series of minor emotional resolutions – one woman comes out of the closet; another realizes she is neglecting her young daughter – when the movie takes a melodramatic and decidedly political turn into tragedy. It works, partly because the Indian cinema, accustomed to epics encompassing musical, comedy and tragedy, has a sprawling sensibility and partly because the script, for all its sunshine and sentiment, has actually built to its startling conclusion.