NO ONE KILLED JESSICA

A sister’s unflinching search for justice in the face of odds. A journalist’s gritty promise to help her get justice. This Rajkumar Gupta film based on the Jessica Lall murder case pitted Vidya Balan against — and with — Rani Mukerji in a show of girl power rarely seen on the Bolly screen. Vidya was the quiet fighter with an inherent intensity; Rani the firebrand, her steely aggression enough to take the pants off any man. Together the two were matched word for word, stare for stare, grit for grit. Remember the scene in which a down-and-out Vidya is given a dressing down by Rani?

7 KHOON MAAF

Priyanka Chopra shone as a woman longing for love who murders six husbands in this dark Vishal Bhardwaj film. Going from a woman in her 20s to a 65-year-old, Priyanka’s Sussana was vulnerable one moment, a cold-hearted killer the next. Men fell prey to her charms and then fell at her feet, begging for mercy. Though the cryptic narrative and lack of a coherent screenplay bogged down 7 Khoon Maaf, it will most certainly go down as a bold Bolly film in which one woman called the shots.

CHAMELI

She was a woman who could lure with her looks and enchant with her charm. Kareena Kapoor made Chameli her own in this 2001 Sudhir Mishra film, playing a streetwalker with the power to call the shots in a male-dominated business. She swore, she sang, she romped, she ruled (Rahul Bose and more).

PAGE 3

Konkona Sensharma shone as an idealistic journalist covering the party beat in this Madhur Bhandarkar film that focused on the murky side of the media and of Page 3 society. While Konkona was the woman in the middle, every female character in Page 3 — from the flamboyant Pearl (Sandhya Mridul) to the innocent-turned-streetsmart Gayatri (Tara Sharma) — was a woman with a voice, and a heart.

 

BLACK

Under the guidance of her eccentric teacher, a blind, deaf and mute woman overcomes the odds in this Sanjay Leela Bhansali film enabling Rani Mukerji to turn in an award-worthy performance. Though she was unable to speak, the interactions between Rani’s Michelle and her jealous sister Sara (Nandana Sen) were crackling. And the ones between her and Amitabh’s Debraj Sahai were mesmeric.

DOR

The men didn’t matter in this Nagesh Kukunoor film in which two women set aside societal prejudices to bond like sisters — despite the fact that the husband of one had widowed the other. Set in rural Rajasthan, Ayesha Takia and Gul Panag shone in this gem of a film which still doesn’t allow you to switch channels every time there is a television rerun.

FIRAAQ

A four-in-one story set in post-Godhra Gujarat, Firaaq dwelt on the ability of women to rise above trials and tribulations, looking out for hope in their world marred by violence. Sheer grit, unflinching determination and the power to fight in the face of all odds distinguished each of the three women in Firaaq. A woman — Nandita Das — calling the shots behind the camera upped Firaaq’s she power quotient.

ISHQIYA

A desi femme fatale who kissed and killed with equal passion. A woman who wrapped two men around her little finger. A woman who unabashedly used her sexuality as a tool, leading one on with suggestive glances; sucking the thumb of the other and eventually ending up in bed with him. A bundle of contradictions, Vidya Balan’s Krishna was a seductress and schemer in equal measure, mouthing expletives with abandon. A woman who not only had chemistry but also spoke it. C*****yam Sulphate!

PROVOKED

Based on the real-life story of Kiranjit Ahluwalia — an Indian woman in Britain who murdered her abusive husband — this Jagmohan Mundhra film talked about how a woman hits back when pushed against the wall. Though a whimpering and

simpering Aishwarya Rai failed to do justice to her role, Provoked will go down as a film in which a woman discovered herself — and rediscovered the world around her.

WE ARE FAMILY

This Stepmom remake had the women — Kajol and Kareena — calling the shots even as the man in the middle (Arjun Rampal) remained a bystander. The two women — both fiery and with a mind of their own — not only tugged at the audience’s tear ducts, but also inspired a me-too feeling. One was a mother with her days numbered; the other a younger woman about to take on a huge responsibility. Their interactions were minimal, but whenever Kajol’s Maya and Kareena’s Shreya came together, the chemistry — and the conversation — was crackling. The film was not.

CHAK DE! INDIA

Women’s equality and the fire in their belly to succeed hasn’t been captured better on the Bollywood screen than this 2007 Yash Raj film. A group of 11 rookie women hockey players fighting their way to a world cup win under the guidance of their diamonds-and-rust coach Kabir Khan (played superbly by Shah Rukh Khan) — Chak De! India was as much a woman power story as it was a tale of underdog triumph.

MIRCH

This late-2010 film on a woman’s right to have sex was a refreshing change in a Bollywood which has always fought shy of the three-letter word. Bengali belles Konkona Sensharma and Raima Sen represented the modern, emancipated woman who did not flinch from voicing her likes and dislikes in bed. A breakthrough film with sparkling performances that, unfortunately, few tuned in to.

AISHA

A film in which she did not pick up a gun, but used a make-up brush to draw the lines of her dominance, Aisha was all about girl power. The power to look good and feel good. The power to pick a man and drop him. The power to get over heartbreak by swiping a credit card. A film in which the conversation between Aisha (Sonam Kapoor) and her friends Pinky (Ira Dubey) and Shefali (Amrita Puri) was not only about boys and their “strange, strange ways” but also about a woman’s right to choose and to stick to her choices.

DEV D

How many Bolly films can boast a village woman who lugs a mattress on her back and walks into the fields with the single-minded determination of getting down and dirty with her man? Anurag Kashyap’s heady concoction of love, sex and drugs in this modern-day Devdas had super women at its core — the strong-willed Paro (Mahie Gill) and the steel magnolia Chanda (Kalki Koechlin). The film may have been named after the man, but it was clearly the women who called the shots here.

 

CORPORATE

Yet another Madhur Bhandarkar film centred on a woman, Corporate looked at the underbelly of company politics, with Bipasha Basu’s Nishigandha Dasgupta finding herself torn between the ethical and the unscrupulous, eventually ending up as the hapless victim of the suit-boot system.

 

WHAT’S YOUR RAASHEE?

If we judge a film on the basis of numbers, then What’s Your Raashee? will go down as the poster-girl of she films. One Harman Baweja was sandwiched between 12 Priyanka Chopras — each representing a sign of the zodiac — in this Ashutosh Gowariker four-hour marathon. A rare Bolly film in which all the attention was on the women — so what if it was the man who did the choosing?

LAAGA CHUNARI MEIN DAAG

Playing a small-town girl from Benaras who becomes a high-society escort in big city Mumbai, Rani Mukerji added a new dimension to the Bolly heroine. The film had its flaws, but convincing performances from Rani and Konkona, as her supportive younger sister, made this Pradeep Sarkar film an absorbing watch.

FASHION

A woman’s meteoric rise, fall and rise in the mad, bad world of fashion was traced by this Madhur Bhandarkar film in which Priyanka Chopra’s Meghna Mathur rose from a small-town girl to a woman ruling the national ramp. Gritty and compelling, each of the female characters in Fashion, Meghna, Shonali (Kangana Ranaut) and Janet (Mugdha Godse) stood for the modern woman — steely grit and vulnerable heart.

MRITYUDAND

A commentary on social and gender injustice in the Bihar heartland, this Prakash Jha film traced the metamorphoses of three women — played by Shabana Azmi, Madhuri Dixit and Shilpa Shirodkar — from docile homemakers to women forced to pick up the gun to retain their rights.

 

FIRE

Deepa Mehta’s film on lesbian relationships — neglected by their husbands, two sisters-in-law turn to each other for mental and physical support — invited bans and brickbats when it released in 1996. But today, Fire is looked upon as a breakthrough film on female empowerment.

UMRAO JAAN

Tracing the poignant life and times of a Lucknow courtesan, this 1981 Muzaffar Ali film was about a woman’s struggle to find love in the times of adversity. Rekha was wow as Umrao Jaan. Years later, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan was cast in the same role. To dismal effect.

MIRCH MASALA

A woman in small-town India holds her own against an entire village, determined to turn her over to a lustful cop in this Ketan Mehta classic. Smita Patil as Sonbai remains one of Bollywood’s grittiest heroines.

We rewind to some films that have kept the she flag flyings

ASTITVA

A woman, who has an affair early on in her marriage, overcomes male chauvinism and spousal abuse to carve a separate identity for herself years later. Tabu turned in an award-winning performance as the woman with balls in this Mahesh Manjrekar film.

CHANDNI BAR

Depicting the murky and morbid life of the Mumbai underworld, including prostitution, dance bars and gun crime, Madhur Bhandarkar’s award-winning film had Tabu in the role of a lifetime as a beer bar dancer.

MOTHER INDIA

This 1957 epic about Nargis the mother bringing up her two sons and then killing one when he turns into a criminal, is considered the mother of all woman-power films in Bollywood.