Lets Talk About Women

From pawn to power: In Dasvi, Maharani, Panchayat, the surrogate woman-politician tastes power and strikes back

In all three of them — Dasvi, Maharani, and Panchayat — the real fun lies in the discomfort on the men’s faces when — much to their shock — the wives refuse to give up the seat, and claim their stake instead.

RRR lacks what elevated SS Rajamouli's Baahubali from good to great — strong female characters

The women of RRR are so uncooked and ill-written that it is difficult to believe they are conceived by the same man who created Baahubali’s iconic, inimitable Sivagami and Devsena.

Oscars 2022: Why Kristen Stewart deserves the honour — and so do most others in Spencer

As Princess Diana, Kristen Stewart is at once glorious and tragic, reaching out and yet shutting off, hungry and anorexic, trying hard to hold on to her sense of self as her grip on everything around her gets shaky.

This International Women's Day, let's talk about Hindi cinema's gross depiction of gendered housework

Whatever the COVID-19 lockdown memes may have you believe, the burden of housework still falls primarily on women even if they earn as much or more than the men in the house. These Hindi films are testimony to that.

Gangubai Kathiawadi could give wind to the sails of change in Bollywood’s hackneyed representation of sex workers

Films like Mandi, Dev.D, Begum Jaan, and Anaarkali of Aarah empowered their women with agency. Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s upcoming Gangubai Kathiawadi could be the latest addition to this formidable list.

Sumukhi Suresh on building an ecosystem through Motormouth Writers: 'There are never enough writers writing for women'

"At Motormouth, we wish to write and create shows, movies, and stories with fundamentally funny, flawed females. We want to change the lens of gender and storytelling using our writing skills," says Sumukhi Suresh.

Sandra Bullock credits the new lease of life in her career to Netflix; here's how streaming is giving Hollywood women their due

Netflix has not only helped revive Sandra Bullock’s career but has also pushed forward the filmographies of several other aging actresses, ensuring they continue to be as prolific and get to play meaty, layered, and interesting characters on screen.

Holding out for a hero: Why do actresses still need to depend on who the male lead is? Why can't they be the heroes?

Taapsee Pannu's recent revelation that other actresses rejected Haseen Dillruba because they were not sure of 'the hero' only exposes the gross dependence of leading ladies on how 'saleable' their male counterparts are.

2021 is the year when women on screen came into their own, from Rashmi Rocket, Mimi to Pagglait

It is not every year that you get to watch a young window unable to grieve her husband’s death, a female athlete banned for failing the gender test, a trans-girl making people question what is normal, an abandoned surrogate mother, and a woman faking her husband’s death to prevent him getting convicted for murder.

Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham turns 20: Karan Johar’s film has aged but Kareena Kapoor’s Poo hasn’t

We love to show our women in relation to men. As their mother, sister, wife, relative, friend, or love interest. Poo was a lot of it too, but before any of it, she was herself. Without apology.