Naanu Ladies

Naanu Ladies is one of those movies where most of the review is me saying positive things about it. But then, the rating I’m giving the film is pretty middling. This is because I don’t want to spend too much time talking about how Naanu Ladies‘ indie status, budget and it being a directorial debut affects the polish of the finished product. Mostly, I want to talk about the film’s story and themes, not the perpetually shaky handheld camera. This film had a lot to say! Gender is a prison, especially for women. But at least you can have gay sex about it, right? Well, maybe not. Turns out, the gender roles can still get you even in a gay relationship. Damn.

Naanu Ladies is a story in two parts. Personally, I prefer the first half of the film. This half is a lovely romance between two young women named Padma and Anita. Padma presents traditionally feminine which leads to constant sexual harassment which she is told is her fault. Padma left home because she has no interest in being a wife and mother. Instead, Padma wants to be an artist. One day on the bus, she meets Anita. Anita aspires to be an actress. By contrast to Padma, Anita presents very butch. She doesn’t shave her body hair or pluck her eyebrows and she goes to a barber for her haircuts. Anita is frequently mistaken for a man. Her gender non-conformity is frequently a problem day-to-day and in her career.

This first half of the film is a really beautiful story about two women in a very sexist society who find each other against the odds. There’s also a great theme about how attractive Padma finds Anita. Anita does not cater to the male gaze. But Padma isn’t the male gaze. And under Padma’s gaze, Anita is absolutely gorgeous. This is one of my favourite things about being a lesbian. I won’t pretend lesbians are in some post-beauty standards utopia. But I think it is true that queer women are more willing to find women who fall outside of traditional beauty standards as attractive. Or at least, they’re more willing to be public and even vocal with that attraction.

The second half of Naanu Ladies deals with the harsh reality of a long-term relationship. 6 years on, Anita is still struggling to break through as an actor. Meanwhile, Padma has all but given up her dream of being an artist in favour of a more stable job working as an art teacher. Anita begins to take on basically, a toxic masculine role in the relationship. Despite not bringing money in herself, she expects Padma to do all the domestic work. The unhappiness in their relationship causes both women to stray from their relationship to varying degrees. But Anita isn’t willing to let their relationship go just yet. After talking to her mother, Anita gets a great idea. Why doesn’t Padma just get pregnant so they can save their relationship!

Is it possible I like this second half less just because it made me sad? Yeah. I’d say that’s likely. It’s heartbreaking to watch this relationship which was so strongly constructed in the first half fall to ruin. And it’s more heartbreaking because of the reason it happens. Anita’s expectation of essentially, a traditionally gendered relationship feels like a betrayal. She’s so proud of being gender non-conforming! Girl, apply that to your romance! It is also a bit tiresome to watch Anita try and convince Padma to have a baby. This isn’t a good idea. Padma knows it’s not a good idea. The movie doesn’t think it’s a good idea either. The second half does spend perhaps a little too long on a potential plot point that was never going to come to fruition.

But even in this second half, there’s lots to respect about Naanu Ladies. The continual commentary about how internalized gender roles and expectations affect people is a good thing. The fact that it makes me so sad is because it’s good! It makes sense as character development that the honeymoon phase of the first half wouldn’t last. Sometimes people aren’t compatible. And even when they are, long-term relationships are hard. It would be nice to exist always in the first half of this movie, but that would also be a story with less to say.

I really want to celebrate that Naanu Ladies is a writer/director/actor film that I believe is semi-autobiographical. Usually, I hate those. But this one is really effective in that regard. My main issue with many semi-autobiographical films is that the director cannot help but overly focus if not outright deify their self-insert character. As director and lead, Shailaja Padindala avoids both these problems. Equal focus is given to Anita and Padma. And equal respect for their opinions and lived experiences too. When the relationship breaks down, most of the blame does seem to be on Anita. Padindala tells a story that seems personal to her as a masc actress. Yet she does so without ignoring the experiences of others, nor her own fictional insert’s flaws and failures. This makes the story have the passion of something personal without feeling too self-involved and arrogant.

Naanu Ladies is a lot of very good ideas that maybe need a little more tweaking or expertise. The commentary is often very on-the-nose. And the camerawork needs…. well, work. But this is an impressive, personal debut film from Padindala. Really, the only reason I’m not rating it higher than I am is because of the sheer quantity of films I have to compare it to at this point. This is an above average small-budget indie film. It’s a way above average semi-autobiographic film. There’s a lot to celebrate here. Just ignore my overall rating. It very much damns Naanu Ladies with faint praise.

Overall rating: 6.0/10

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