In my last weekend blog, I had written about strong female roles in the Bollywood films of the 21st century. Here is the concluding part of that blog.
7 Usha, played by Ratna Pathak Shah in Lipstick Under My Burkha 2016
She is a 55-year-old widow living in Bhopal, the revered matriarch of her locality. What is interesting is that she is nursing a secret crush on her young, muscular swimming coach. That a woman of her age can have sexual fantasies is bizarre and even shameful. So she begins to lead a parallel life in which she reads erotic novels and has steamy phone conversations with her coach. Watch her in the scene where she’s asked her name, and she takes a while to say Usha as if she has forgotten her identity. Ratna Pathak was brilliant.
8 Safeena, played by Alia Bhatt in Gully Goy 2019
Anti-feminism apologists will tell you if Kabir Singh, where Shahid Kapoor plays the title role, is problematic, why not Safeena? She has temper issues. She beats up another girl who is hitting on her boyfriend. She has characteristics of a male hero, too a Muslim woman character in Hindi mainstream films with big stars a statement. Alia Bhatt is on fire in this film.
9 Neelam Mehra, played by Shefali Shah in Dil Dhadakne Do
She is a wealthy middle-aged housewife is living in a toxic marriage. Her eyes convey so much hurt, humiliation, and self-loathing that her caustic reactions to her unfaithful husband and confused son seem like the most natural coping mechanism. To play a character who doesn’t believe a word coming out of her mouth is a challenge, the veteran actress does such a fine job of revealing the wife’s performative fatigue that she almost single-handedly rescues the film from handing her a sense of redemption.
10 Elizabeth, played by Rachel Shelley in Lagaan 2001
Many things have been written about this film, but very little has been said about the character of Elizabeth. There is the breaking of the shackles of patriarchal authority in her defiance of her brother Captain Russel-she is someone who’s probably grown up in a stuffy Victorian family, and there is her unrequited love for the hero Bhuvan. There’s a scene where she tells her feelings to Bhuvan but in English, the language which he does not understand. What a performance by Rachel Shelley.
11 Simi, played by Tabu in Andhadhun 2018
Tabu plays Simi in a way that even the film is unsure of what she’s thinking. The writing thrusts the actress to do magical things with the character, and Tabu does not fail. She is wicked in an unassuming manner, but what is unsettling is that Simi goes about her deceptions with the rhythm of someone shopping for clothes or doing everyday chores. That Tabu manages to depict Simi as a woman who is somewhat unnerved by her coldness is a testament to her talent, and the result is Simi is one of the most fascinating Hindi film antagonists in the decades that have seen the demise of conventional villains.
12 Paro, played by Mahie Gill Dev.D 2009
If Anurag Kashyap’s take on Devdas was a middle finger to the conservative values of old Bollywood, then Paro is the key to it. For starters, she is as sexually hungry as Dev-sending him nudes on her phone when he is in London, sneaking make-out sessions during a family function, or taking a mattress to the fields. She is also a person of strong character than Dev’s pathetic weakling. In a telling scene when she confronts him, he thinks he is rejecting her, but it’s really her who has rejected him. Mahie gill plays Paro with hurt and vulnerability, while also exuding feminine power.
13 Amrita, played by Taapsee Pannu in Thappad 2020
She is perhaps one of the most important depictions of womanhood in recent times. One fateful incident has the capability of changing lives forever, and Amrita knows that the second her husband-the man she loved and sacrificed her career for -hit her. For her, the incident shook her to the extent that she could finally, clearly see all she had to give up and compromise in the name of becoming someone’s wife. That someone, who felt entitled enough to not only hit her but justify it too, without feeling an iota of remorse or regret. The fact that she took a stand for herself, deciding not to stay in a forced marriage with a man she couldn’t respect any longer, felt like acknowledging the deep-rooted trauma of domestic, physical, and emotional abuse, even if it looked like ‘just a slap’ to the outside world. Tapsee was too good in this film.
There were many strong female characters in earlier films of the 20th Century, but they were few. But in this century things have started to change, and every year you see some films with strong female characters.
Waiting for your views on this blog.
Anil Malik
Mumbai, India
31st March 2023