The Great Indian Kitchen and now Sara's: Malayalam films are all for women's lib

Sara's begins with the tale of a young, chirpy, school-going girl who knows her mind and isn't afraid to speak up. At a tender teenage, over egg-puffs, she loses her first boyfriend over her choice to not ever be a mother. He walks out on her a few seconds later (egg from his puff, fallen out) grunting that he doesn't want a puff without an egg.

Sara Vincent, the protagonist in the film, soon transitions into a grown-up, confident and aspiring filmmaker in her mid-twenties. Her daydreams of a miserable and heavily pregnant self, haunting her during shoot breaks. Fed up with being an over-zealous and detail-oriented assistant, she carries around a notebook that lists people from the fraternity with who she'll never work.

While writing her first script (a thriller) that she wants to direct herself, her life takes a loving turn as she meets the man that she can think of spending her life with. Mainly because he mentions, he doesn't want children. Amidst growing pressure from family for hunting down a partner for life and settling, she agrees to the societal norm of locking love into a marriage bond, yet keeping a space for her dream.

At this point, director Judy Anthany Joseph brings to the fore, the realities of a woman trying to make a film on her terms. And he doesn't just stop there and goes on to subtly show how artistic talent often takes a backseat for most female actors post marriage and motherhood. Halfway through the film, in a particular scene where Sara meets a producer to pick her script, she is even told to give up her story and let another 'male' filmmaker take on the role.

An accidental pregnancy shakes up Sara's life at this important career juncture, also causing a rift between the couple. However, a determined Sara navigates through the societal pressures and taunts unaccompanied, while silently hoping to receive backing from her father and her husband, two important men in her life.

Veteran actor Siddique who plays a gynecologist in the film, plays a crucial role, not just in Sara's life but in the plot too. He takes the audience through the crucial theme of conscious parenting, the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971, and how the right to birth should solely be a woman's decision. A self-quoted board hangs on the wall—'Better to not be a parent than a bad parent'.

During a counselling session in the film, he tells a two-month pregnant Sara Vincent:

"You are a movie director, right? That is not something everyone can do. That takes talent. And parenting is a much more divine talent, not everyone can do that either. People who can't do that, should not do it and it is better for everyone that way."

Written by debut screenwriter Akshay Hareesh, with Anna Ben and Sunny Wayne in the lead role, the film travels through its highs and lows with fine music lending a support shoulder only where needed. Shot mostly in Kochi, Sara's is a refreshing addition to the band of female-oriented cinema churned out by Mollywood.