What The Folks Season 4 Episode 4 review: Motherhood could be complex and also beautiful

4/5

Story:

The preparations for the wedding of Akshata (Anula Navlekar) and Sid (Ravjeet Singh) are in full swing. As she continues to fight with her dad for wanting an intimate wedding, Anita (Eisha Chopra) is immersed in the complex thoughts of being a mother.

Review:

Motherhood, in our society, has always been an idea, which is beautiful and golden. As the idea still remains the same, the process is not always charming and easy as it seems, which we don’t really talk about. The latest episode of Dice Media’s What The Folks discusses the complexities of motherhood, in the background of a wedding, and an adoption.

When Anita and Nikhil decided to adopt a baby, they would not have thought it would be so difficult. While the legal process is nearing, Anita gets confused. “Am I really ready for this?,” she asks herself. She even tells her brother-in-law that she can’t really believe she is going to be a mother soon, while others take 10 months and then forever to be one. To top it all, she even gets nightmares.

At the same time, Akshata is getting ready to be a bride. Anita’s and Akshu’s mom, who has been a ‘nagging mother’ with a strict husband, worries about her motherhood now. When she finds out Akshu’s mother-in-law is such a ‘cool mother’, she doubts herself if she will lose her child. “I know you love me, but I want you to like me,” she says to her daughter, and then, we, as audiences, start looking around and into our families.

When motherhood has always been something that follows the wedding,, we don’t really think about women and the mental state of their minds as they get ready to be mothers. We never have given them a chance even to think if they are ready to be one, or to make plans about bringing someone up. Since the previous generations have not done their job thoughtfully and caught up with the year-old societal norms, millennials are forced to discuss toxic parenting. When Akshu’s mom says, “because of your father’s behaviour, it was more difficult for me to become your friend,” it represents an entire generation, who had a different and almost non-liberal ideology about parenthood. Simultaneously, Anita, who took a very huge step to be an adoptive mother, is being on an emotional swing as well. The episode brings out all these thoughts in a possible easy way, with the actors blending into the characters perfectly.

At the same time, the three men are in three different places in their minds. When Akshu’s father wants to uphold his ego and throw his daughter a grand wedding, the bride opposes it. While Nikhil is almost clueless about Anita’s tension, Sid throws us a bomb at the episode's end. “I don’t know, something doesn’t feel right,” he says to Anita about his wedding.

As the episode title suggests ‘Are We Ready?’, is it the beginning of the ending? We will have to wait till the next episode.

Verdict:

Do not miss this mini-series as it leaves you with many thoughts and interpretations. Besides bringing many progressive ideas, it is also an absolute entertainer.

What The Folks is available on YouTube.