Mummy, why did Eve eat the forbidden fruit and why should anything be forbidden anyway? Was she not free to eat the fruit that she found most juicy? Do all women have to lie to themselves to survive? These and more such reflections by a 13-year-old narrator form the essential subtext of Bombay Begums, a six-episode series that hit Netflix on Women’s Day. On the face of it, the show—created, co-written, and directed in parts by Alankrita Shrivastava—seems to fall under her favorite smash-the-patriarchy trope. But this time the plot is set in the snake-pit of corporate India, where four urban women and a teenage girl from diverse backgrounds battle against society’s intrinsic patriarchy, entitlement, and barriers to win freedom for themselves and their bodies. Where does one look for refuge when one’s own body is a battleground, with #MeToo, menstruation, motherhood, menopause, and a messy head? A deep-seated yearning to be heard and understood in an unforgivingly chauvinistic society continues to plague all of Shrivastava’s women, be it the 20-something Dolly in Dolly, Kitty Aur Woh Chamakte Sitare (2019), 60-year-old Buaji in Lipstick Under My Burkha (2016), Tara Khanna from Made in Heaven (web show; 2019) or Ayesha (Plabita Borthakur) in Bombay Begums, whose frustration as a single woman from a small town struggling to make it big in Mumbai, is relatable at so many levels.
Bu hikaye THE WEEK dergisinin March 21, 2021 sayısından alınmıştır.
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Bu hikaye THE WEEK dergisinin March 21, 2021 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
Angry, Young America
Campus protests against the Gaza war continue to linger as students demand a realignment of US ties with Israel
We need to engage more with communities
Designer Aratrik Dev Varman of the label Tilla has long been a lover of history. One could comfortably call him part-aesthete, part-archeologist, for his clothes dip into vintage styles of the Kutch, Sindh, Balochistan and Afghanistan, bringing alive antique styles and crafts. Tilla, the store and atelier, are situated on a tree-lined avenue in Ahmedabad.
The great luxury slowdown
A year or so ago, if anyone had told me that Tommy Hilfiger would have stolen the show at New York’s Met Gala, I would have laughed. But it seems the end of giant luxury labels is upon us even before we expected it. The American ready-to-wear designer Tommy Hilfiger seems to have created the maximum media buzz at the 2024 Met Gala, according to several data analytics firms.
RAP BRINGS RAPTURE
How indie artistes, especially hip-hoppers, are driving the phenomenal rise of Malayalam music
Employability issues are a narrative created by the corporate world
Prof Yogesh Singh is the 23rd vice chancellor of the century-old University of Delhi (DU). An engineer with a PhD in computer engineering, Singh has an impressive track record of teaching, innovation and research in the area of software engineering. He has more than 250 publications and his book, Software Testing, published by the Cambridge University Press, is well-received internationally. In an interview with THE WEEK, Singh talks about trends in higher education in India, the challenges faced by big universities, and how to make higher education more interesting. Asked about the perception that Indian graduates are “not employable”, he reacts strongly, and emphasises the difference between training and higher education. Edited excerpts:
SERVING WITH DISTINCTION
Conceived as a university like no other, Jawaharlal Nehru University became India's best. Here is how
Mandela Effect and Liar's Dividend
The complex tapestry of AI's impact on society
The other Sabyasachi
I am Sabyasachi Mukherjee, not to be confused with my namesake, the celebrated fashion couturier, declared the venerated director-general of Mumbai’s pride, George Wittet’s Indo-Saracenic jewel, the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya, formerly known as the Prince of Wales Museum.
THE MANGO HUNTERS
'Naadan Maavukal' started out as a Facebook group, but what it does offline has helped conserve many indigenous varieties of mangoes
BJP LEADERS, TOO, HAVE HAD ENOUGH
Farmers’ protest has taken the centre stage in Haryana, which goes to the polls on May 25. Former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda is confident that the Congress, which has been out of power for 10 years, will regain its hold on the state. “People who voted for the BJP are disappointed today. It is clear that they want change,” he told THE WEEK.
