Angry Indian Goddesses, a film from India directed by Pan Nalin (Samsara), has been christened India’s first “female buddy comedy.” However, after seeing it premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, it is clear that the film is also so much more than these tropes—by taking classical comedy tropes and turning them on their head, the film reaches into darker and more genre-bending territory than initially anticipated.
The concept for AIG is fairly simple: on the week of her wedding, Frieda, a celebrated and successful photographer, gathers together six of her closest friends from college for her bachelorette party. There is just one problem: Frieda refuses to reveal who the groom is.
The six friends who join Frieda are a diverse array of people—we meet Su, a business executive and mother; Nargis, an activist of sorts for tribal peoples; Jo, an aspiring Bollywood actress and Frieda’s cousin; Pammy, an unhappy housewife; Mad, a singer-songwriter; and Lakshmi, who is Frieda’s house servant. All of them come from different walks of life, but the opening shots establish their connection to each other quite clearly as we see each woman break down in anger from the sexism they face in Indian society. From here, the tone is set—these women are angry and on edge from all that society, especially men, is throwing at them.
As they arrive in Goa, these women carry all this anger with them—an anger that informs the conversations and banter that they have on the eve of Frieda’s nuptials. The characters throw themselves into a series of scenes that vary by the emotions exhibited, often changing in a heartbeat; joy in one moment, extreme anger the next. What’s amazing about this film is that the scenes were improvised by the seven actresses on-set. Due to this improvisational structure, it’s difficult to say that this film is wholly Nalin’s vision. Rather, it is clear that this was a film that was also partly created by these actresses and their bonds with each other—in other words, by what they saw as important to convey the present tensions in Indian society and how they chose to do so. The group chemistry of the seven actresses is therefore highly significant: it makes this movie as feminist and authentic as it could be.
It is this improvisation that turns what could be a buddy comedy on its head and makes the scenes richer and more surprising than expected. The plot twists and turns in unexpected ways as the characters take the film in fresh and daring directions that are difficult to predict from the outset. In doing so, the film remains far truer to life than fantasy and is far more engaging as a result. For me personally, it was my favourite film at the festival.
