I just finished watching @spacemomsmovie with my kids. It’s hard for me to describe what this movie meant to me, but I’ll try. (I’m still crying, so please forgive any typos. I want to capture this moment.)

There’s a softness and groundedness to @radhabharadwaj’s direction that feels like love. It’s the only way I can think of to describe it. The tenderness and honesty that come from knowing and loving a people and a place in your cells - somehow she captures that on film. Magic.

What captivated me was how comfortable the people in the film were in simply being themselves. Even as there was an awareness of the western gaze, they neither performed for nor against that gaze. IOW, this felt like an Indian film on its own terms, naturally, beautifully.

Not for a moment did I find myself cringing like I do when I’ve tried (and failed) to watch high production Bollywood films. I cannot and do not want to relate to those characters.

But these regular, simple, awkward, lovely people felt like people. Not performatively “real”...

...but real like the people I know and love.

The representation of women felt so resonant - so much more resonant than any depiction I’ve felt in Western media. I can’t explain it. My heart felt opened by it.

The depiction of men felt equally resonant. These are the kinds of Indian men I have in my family. Strong but never harsh, thoughtful, caring, not afraid to be soft or tender, and genuinely grounded in their masculine strength.

The balance between the male and the female felt like seeing Shiva and Shakti expressed in society. Without making a big drama of it, @radhabharadwaj shows how these energies manifest simply, naturally, sincerely amongst people who are naturally reverent to the Divine.

I could keep going. It’s not a fancy, high def Star Wars production, if that’s what you expect from a space movie. And what a relief, bc the real magic would be obscured by all of that.

Watch it slowly with your kids. Be present to all the layers.

@spacemomsmovie