Indian movies are often tended to be male-centered, and women are considered to be subjugated under men. This trend has been shone from the very beginning of movies. However, there are a few good movies that have the comfort to break the stereotype. Indeed, these movies have faced their problems yet overcoming all the barriers the best in their ways.
1. Queen movie
Queen, released in 2013, was directed by Vikas Bahl and produced by Anurag Kashyap, Vikramaditya Motwane, and Madhu Mantena. The film stars Kangana Ranaut in the lead role, with Lisa Haydon and Rajkummar Rao playing supporting roles. The movie is about the central character Rani, who faces many problems of a broken marriage with her fiancé.
This particular movie enlightens the fact that women can survive any situation on their own. Throughout the film, we can see that camera is much focused on Rani’s life, a normal Indian middle-class girl who has always dreamed of having a beautiful married life and nothing else. The positive and the negative impact of other roles on her could be seen in the movie.
2. English Vinglish
Gauri Sinde’s movie starring Sridevi was released in 2012, an Indian comedy-drama where Sridevi was Shashi Godbole, an Indian homemaker who struggles to speak English due to her illiteracy in English. However, she is a self-learning woman with her own small-scale business of making and selling ladoos.
It was shortlisted as India’s official entry for the Academy Awards in the Best Foreign Language Film category. Towards the end, the film comes around with many twists and turns and fills up mixed emotions.
3. Dangal
Dangal is a biographical Hindi sports drama film directed by Nitesh Tiwari, written by Tiwari, Piyush Gupta, Shreyas Jain, Nikhil Mehrotra, and produced by Aamir Khan and Kiran Rao under Aamir Khan Productions. Along with Siddharth Roy Kapur, the original Hindi version was produced under the Disney banner and the dubbed local and overseas versions under the UTV Motion Pictures banner.
The film was based on the Phogat family starring Amir Khan as Mahavir Singh Phogat, a Bhawani amateur wrestler who trains his daughters Geeta Phogat and Babita Kumari to become India’s first world-class female wrestlers. Fatima Sana Shaikh and Sanya Malhotra portray the adult versions of the two Phogat sisters, Zaira Wasim and Suhani Bhatnagar, their younger versions, Sakshi Tanwar, their mother, and Aparshakti Khurana, their cousin, all of them except Tanwar in their film debuts. This particular movie focuses on how Indian women face difficulty in the field of sports.
4. How old are you?
This Malayalam language Indian film directed by Rosshan Andrrews is a family drama. Starring Manju Warrier, Kunchacko Boban, Kaniha, Lalu Alex, and Amritha Anil, this film showcases the life of a working woman who has led a striving youthful charm in her college. However, after her marriage, she confined herself to the four walls. Yet, bringing twists and turns to the plot, we can see that a homemaker, a working woman brings about change in many people’s lives.
This was the big comeback film for Manju Warrier, after a long break in movies. However, the audience had received the comeback wholeheartedly through her films. Right now, she is the most paid actress in Malayalam films. Facing many controversies, the protagonist succeeds in her goals. Women empowerment is well shone in this film.
5. Thappad
Thappad is an Indian Hindi language film by Anubhav Sinha, starring Taapsee Pannu. This movie was released in 2020 on an OTT Platform, Amazon Prime.
“Thappad” means ‘slap.’ This particular movie revolves around many themes, primarily on the fact that women are not anyone’s property, that no one, not even her husband, can own her as he has married her. In past years of Indian films, they have often normalized the fact that it is ok to beat up a woman as she is constantly subjected to men. However, here comes a movie that came forth to break this normalization.
6. Lipstick under my Burkha
It is an Indian Hindi-language black comedy film written and directed by Alankrita Shrivastava and produced by Prakash Jha. This film is about four different women in the same locality, facing subjugation of men and society.
Usha Parmar (Ratna Pathak) is a 55-year-old widow who has her fantasy about men as she reads an erotic novel. However, she fails to express herself. Yet another character is Rehana Abidi (Plabita Borthakur), a Muslim who lives around the same neighborhood as a college student, and she sells Burkha and faces her difficulties. Similarly, Leela (Aahana Kumra) is a beautician around the community. Shireen Aslam (Konkona Sen Sharma) is a burkha-wearing housewife constrained within four walls.
7. Neerja
Neerja is an autobiographical Hindi Indian film starring Sonam Kapoor, directed by Ram Madhvani, Saiwyn Quadras, and Sanyuktha Chawla Shaikh. The film revolves around the life of an air hostess who sacrifices her own life to save a plane full of people who have been hijacked. After facing many cases of abuse, she remains a strong woman and moves on with her life; she could be an inspiration to many. It won two awards at the 64th National Film Awards, including Best Feature Film in Hindi and Special Mention for Kapoor.
8. Raazi
Alia Bhatt, starring in the film Raazi, was directed by Meghna Gulzar. Here Alia Bhatt plays the role of RAW officer upon her father’s request. . However, she faces many emotional traumas of choosing sides, yet she remains faithful to her duty. It is a must-watch film.
Raazi received 15 nominations at the 64th Filmfare Awards, where it won five awards, including Best Film, Best Director, and Best Actress for Alia Bhatt.
9. 22 Female Kottayam
22FK is a Malayalam film directed by Aashiq Abu and was written by Syam Pushkaran and Abhilash S. Kumar. This thriller movie focuses on rape violence against women and how the protagonist rises like a phoenix bird. Rima Kallingal and Fahadh Faasil play the character of Tessa and Cyril. Tessa is a nurse from Kottayam and has been raped, later half she causes misery to those who caused her pain. Rima Kallingal won the Kerala State Film Award for Best Actress for the film. The new wave of Malayalam movies was catalyzed through this movie.
10. Bulbbul
Bulbul was released on OTT platform Netflix in 2020, directed by Anvita Dutt, and produced by Anushka Sharma and Karnesh Sharma. This movie revolves around a woman who was married at a very early age to a man double her age. Furthermore, this film enlightens the superstitions that revolve around society. Themes like child marriage, superstitious beliefs, rape, and violence have been discussed here.
Edited by Prakriti Arora
