Wicked For Good: This is a Marvelous Toast to Friendship and Ariana Grande is Pretty Fabulous in Pink!

If Wicked part one belonged to the green Elphaba (played by Cynthia Erivo), the humongously talented young woman who is branded as the wicked witch, then the year long wait for the second part was written for Ariana Grande who plays Galinda the Good.

This second part is written for anyone who has felt that they were faking everything in their life and they did not possess the talent that their best friend had. This film is for anyone who has a soft spot for animals, and yes, the home truths hit home harder than in the previous film.

“I am a public figure now, so I’m expected to…”

“Lie?”

“...Be encouraging.”

The banter between two friends separated because they have chosen to represent two sides really works. We are told that ‘you need the wicked so that people appreciate the good.’

But when you see Dr. Dillamond, a teacher who is a goat, being forced to bleat instead of a normal voice and put into captivity (you remember clearly how the Wizards force drags him away from the classroom), you feel awful. It feels like vindication when Elphaba’s broom at the Wizard’s throat stops him from saying anything.

“How does it feel to lose your voice?”

Even though Elphaba is asking a literal question, it hit me hard. So many of us are living lives where speaking our truth will work against us. So many of us have made biting our tongues a normal thing. But there you have it, a fairy tale that nails…

Oh! Glinda the Good (isn’t it ‘Galinda’?!) slaps Elphaba hard! Elphaba asks, ‘Does that feel good?’ When Glinda replies yes, Elphaba hits her across the face and says, ‘Me too!’

There is a collective gasp from the audience. An audience that has been taught to be nice, talk about your problems and so on… Imagine such a moment in Manmohan Desai’s Sholay! Jai hits Veeru because he has had to deal with Veeru’s shenanigans forever. And Veeru? He slaps Jai to wipe that holier than thou attitude.Think of a bloody moment like this (there are many many bloody events in the Game of Thrones) between Anya Stark and Sandor ‘the Hound’ Clegane.

Imagine having a sibling who is perfect at everything, and you getting into all sorts of trouble because parents think you must have incited your perfect sibling to pull that prank…This movie has so many moments and yes, there’s Madame Morrible (totes adorbs Michelle Yeoh) who is the power behind the Wizard… Imagine her wanting to be the face of power instead of having to hide in the background.

Elphaba, now living isolated from her beloved Oz, does try to explain why the animals should not leave and apologise for her role in the awful magic that was unleashed on the monkeys, or that she was rescuing the lion even though he ended up being cowardly, but every person and animal misunderstands her…Even her sister, Nessa who is rather possessive about the cute munchkin Boq, blames her for everything wrong in her life. The love song between Elphaba and Prince Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey) is magical and yet, Elphaba’s anger directed to this unjust world is a wild, heartfelt rage expressed in a rather grown up song, ‘No Good Deed’.

Glinda, the ever optimist, tries to create a truce between the wizard (the delightful Jeff Goldblum) and Elphaba, but what Elphaba discovers will shake you to the core. This movie is definitely not for the kiddies.

Finally, the connection to the saccharine original is made in a fun way. The twister, Dorothy, Toto, the cowardly lion, the Tin man (he’s scarier than the wizard in the film!) et al finally make an appearance. But even better was the magical laying of the yellow brick road. If only Municipal corporations of our cities took a lesson and built our roads that easily, our cities wouldn’t be permanently ‘under construction’!

I’m saving the best part of the film for the last! It’s what every girl secretly loves (despite the very public ‘pink is for girls’ thing marketing has pushed down our throats): Pink! Ariana Grande carries that pink so brilliantly you sigh in your chair because despite the excess, she does not look like an out of control meringue. And she cries in pink, has self realization in pink, is envious in pink and also lies in pink! ‘Could be happier’ is such a wonderful song about having to smile through it all.

Ariana Grande looks so fragile you want to protect her from everything awful. While we love Elphaba for being the strong one, in the film our love seems to overflow for Glinda as she watches her life go by in a daze because she has realised that her job is just to be ‘pretty’ and make everything look good.

So if the doorbell rings and you find yourself saying, ‘Wait a clock tick!’ or you’re simply sitting quietly humming wonderful songs with words that remind you that finding a true friend in these times is rare and beautiful:

‘Like a comet pulled from orbit as it passes the sun... Like a seed dropped by a skybird in a distant wood...Who can say if I've been changed... For the better...'