In an industry where films have traditionally been “scripted around men, and woman centric films have been the exceptions rather than the rule, a new generation of directors and screenwriters have overturned the gender imbalance, and delivered successful films centred around female protagonists.
On the eve of International Women’s Day, here’s a selection of seven Bollywood films that celebrate woman power.
‘Gangubai Kathiawadi, Alia Bhatt (2022): The Sanjay Leela Bhansali film, a biopic based on the life of mafia queen’ Gangubai Kothewali, is centred around Alia Bhatt’s character, who was cheated and sold to a brothel in Kamathipura, Mumbai. From there, she allied with local politicians and the under- world to become a ‘don’ who was dreaded as much as she was respected for her good deeds The movie made news for being the first female-cen- tric production to rake in a hefty Rs 210 crore in a year when Hindi movies were overshadowed by big-budget South Indian blockbusters.
‘Mardaani 2’, Rani Mukerji (2018): In this second edition of the Aditya Chopra-pro- duced crime thriller, Rani Mukerji reprises the role of Shivani Shivaji Roy, a can-do police officer who is out on only one mission: to catch a 21-year-old rapist and murderer, and deliver justice to the victim’s family.
Jaane Jaan, Kareena Kapoor Khan (2023): Sujoy Ghosh’s film is an adaptation of the 2005 Japanese novel The Devotion of Suspect X’. In the movie, Kareena plays a single mother involved in a murder who does whatever it takes to keep herself and her daughter safe.
‘Sukhee’, Shilpa Shetty (2023): The slice-of-life film helmed by Sonal Joshi with music by Badshah talks about the challenges faced by homemakers through the transformative experience of its lead character, a 38-year- old Punjabi housewife, after a high school reunion. It spotlights the sacrifices women make for their families. The movie, though, bombed at the box office.