IT'S REIGNING WOMEN

With production houses and filmmakers putting their resources behind female-driven scripts, a spate of Bollywood releases this year will see women and their stories taking centre stage

- Suhani Singh

A wife has second thoughts about her marriage after her husband slaps her at a party (Thappad); a pilot makes history as the first woman in combat in the Kargil war (Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl); a portrait of a surrogate mother (Mimi); another of a superstitious Punjabi woman (KTina); and a thriller about a disturbed woman who witnesses a murder (The Girl on the Train). These are just some of the stories where women take centre stage in 2020. Women-oriented narratives are certainly not new to Hindi cinema but this year stands out for the sheer volume of such films. Moreover, it is actresses, both new and experienced, who will carry these films on their shoulders. It’s an encouraging sign that studios are eager to bankroll projects where a woman’s perspective is seen and her voice heard.

Taapsee Pannu-starrer Thappad, directed by Anubhav Sinha, made a case for never tolerating abuse. This is in stark contrast to Kabir Singh writer-director Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s opinion that “when you are deeply in love... if you don’t have the liberty of slapping each other, then I don’t see anything there”. Pannu plays Amrita, a committed homemaker and doting wife, who rattles her close ones when she seeks a divorce. “It deals with what is okay and what is not in a relationship,” says Pannu. “It will give you a certain pause, which is needed because we have been shoving it under the carpet for the longest time.”

Thappad comes a month after Kangana Ranaut’s