Documentary
Language: Mandarin/English
Country: China
Released in 2019

Amazon Original

It was a lazy Friday afternoon, I had just finished a great series and was not in the mood to start another, Instead I wanted to browse for some light hearted documentaries or movies. The name One Child Nation caught my eye (in Amazon Prime). I thought it would talk about the pangs of growing up as only child with no siblings and no uncles, aunts and cousins if it were a second generation child. But this documentary was about how this policy was implemented in China. I was devastated would be an understatement. Even now, after three days I am reeling under its impact, completely shattered, tears rolling down as I type these words.
On the one hand, the propaganda machine was brainwashing people from 1979 to 2015 that one child policy was a brilliant idea of the government to save the people from starvation and poverty. On the other hand the government was awarding 120 Yuan for reporting about your neighbor who is second time pregnant. Women were forcefully carried away, aborted, induced delivery and the child killed, forced sterilizations and what not. If a woman bore a second child having escaped all these atrocities the child was taken away, even if it was a twin one of them was separated from the parents. Millions of children who were passed off as orphans were given for international adoption.
The worst was not done by the government, it was the people! Like all Asians their obsession for a male child made them do the unspeakable. If the one child was a girl they put her in a basket and left her in the markets for human traffickers to pick up or simply die. So that they can have a male child. There are families who abandoned up to three girls to finally have a male child. I was horrified at the collective inhumanity of the people and their government.
Watch it simply to understand what a blessed life we have, let us spare a minute and think what a secure and free life we are enjoying. Salute to Nanfu Wang for her courage in making this documentary.

Language: Malayalam
Country: India
Released in 2017
Directed by Anil Thomas

Minnaminungu is a movie about a single mother struggling to educate her daughter; her trials and tribulations; the final tragedy and her stoic positivity in the face of adversity. Sounds like a standard soap opera story and it also makes you shed a tear and feel a lump in your throat, occasionally. In spite of all the flaws I would strongly recommend this movie simply for the sheer brilliance of Surabhi Lakshmi’s portrayal of the middle aged mother. The way she walks, holds her saree, does her chores, smiles even when she is drowning in troubles is so genuine. It is her eyes that is a treat to watch, don’t miss this movie cause you ll be missing an acting excellence.

Padmini Satyanarayanan

Language: Marathi
Country: India
Released in 2019
Directed by Aruna Raje
A Netflix original

To call it a feminist movie would be clichéd. Though Sunanda, the lawyer, expert in divorce cases, champion of suffering women would make it seem like one. The main focus is on Sunanda’s personal life juxtaposed to her highly successful career. She is a victim of rape when she was in school and still tries to cope with the trauma. Usha Jadav very convincingly portrays a women who can rip off men in the courtroom but unable to stand intimacy with her husband. Girish Kulkarni plays a very supportive husband in spite of the personal battle that she is fighting.
The movie takes a different turn when she takes up Rajeshwari sachdeva’s divorce case against her husband played by Sachin Kedekar. All four protagonists have played their roles incredibly well.
The final take where Sunanda finally overcomes her battle and her husband’s meek acceptance that “Love and sex are two different things” would be hard for many people to digest. I personally feel that Aruna Raje has expertly handled the emotional trauma of a rape victim.

You can watch it if you have some time to spare.

Padmini Satyanarayanan

FINGERTIP
Language Tamil
Country India
Originally aired in 2019
One season 5 episodes
Available in ZEE5

Fingertip is a series about the effects of social media. I was warned that after having seen Black Mirror I shouldn’t risk watching this but I was hooked well into the first episode itself. For one Black Mirror is a futuristic anthology whereas Fingertip is about now, the current scenario. Comparing these two series is a gross injustice.
Fingertip talks about five different issues in five different social media but uses crossover actors to show that these issues are universal and can happen to anyone. The one good thing about the show is that it does not moralize or sermonize about the actions of the characters, they are presented as individual actions stemming from individual circumstances.
Casting is a big plus and all the lead actors have done a good job.
This short series is definitely worth a watch since it leaves an uneasy feeling in the pit of our stomach since it very subtly leaves a strong message for us.

Padmini Satyanarayanan