From Sarees to Sass: The Evolution of Her

In this episode of Extra Shot of Chai, we reflect on how the role of the Bollywood heroine has evolved—from delicate elegance to fierce independence. We look back at the grace and quiet strength of the 1940s–70s, the struggles of navigating patriarchal storylines in the 80s and 90s, the slow shift toward better representation in the 2000s, and the rise of complex, powerful women leads in the last decade.

It’s a conversation filled with admiration, frustration, and hope. The journey of the Bollywood heroine is more than just about screen time—it’s about identity, agency, and finally being seen as more than just someone’s love interest.

Join us as we celebrate how far she’s come—and how much further there is to go.

VOWs: 

Kavitha: Tere Bina Na Guzara Ae by Josh Brar

Wrijoya: Jeena Laga Hoon from Ramaya Vastavaya

Munni: Nasha from Raid 2

https://www.buzzsprout.com/2389396

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:03

What's up everyone? I missed you guys. I haven't seen you guys in person in a while, but I miss you. That's because you're hiding. I am a free bird this week. I'm hiding at my aunt's house. I'm the only one that's like still in my location. So it's you guys. You guys need to come back. But you know what, guys? I think you all jinxed it because I have to come back. The minute I came to Mississippi, I now got an email from my office that I need to go pick up my government equipment approved. That approval took like two months and it came the minute I came into Mississippi. So I suppose you will see me very soon within one week. And I'll go run away again very soon after that. I think that's just an excuse. You already miss us and you're having FOMO. And therefore you're coming back. And that's just an excuse to me. Very well could be. Very well could be. So Muni, do you have any breaking news for us? Well, I don't know if it's breaking news or not, but you know how I always talk about Pakistani dramas and how I love watching them. So recently I just saw that Netflix is having its first Pakistani series on and it's called Jo Bache Hai Sang Samet Lo. I don't, it's a very long title, but a bunch of actors that like I, like what some of my favorites are going to be on it. I was just going to ask you, is one of our main favorites in it? Yeah. Fawad Ali Khan is going to be in it and Maher Ali looks like she's going to be in it. Wait, Fahaj is in it? Fawad. I thought you said the other hot guy that we like. Oh, Wahaj? No, Wahaj is not in it. Yeah, he's not in it. But Fawad is in it. Another guy that I follow, Bilal, is in it. Oh, I like him. Bilal Ashraf, right? Yes, Bilal Ashraf. Yeah, also very handsome. Yeah, he's really good. Yes. Hania, is it? I forgot. Hania Amir. Hania Amir. Yeah, she's going to be in it. Who we thought was dating Badshah, but I think they're just friends. It's funny. I don't really keep up with Pakistani serials or dramas or any updates, but I actually knew this update too and- Kavi, you hinted at it. I think we knew it because our favorite Fawad Khan's in it. And I actually like Mahira Khan too. So it's definitely like a power pack team. They're like the token Pakistani actors that we Indians know or the Bollywood scene knows, right? Because they've been in, like Mahira was in Raiz and then Fawad Ali Khan's have been in like two or three different movies. So I think that's kind of how we, and then they were both in Hamsa for the, the Pakistani serial lovers. Like that was the first Pakistani serial I saw. So yeah, that, I mean, that's what I think people internationally, they became like recognized because of that particular drama. Everyone just loved

SPEAKER_04: 2:50

it.

SPEAKER_00: 2:51

But there's so many other ones that like, you know, I think Kavi, you and I both have watched like other ones that are like actually really, really good. So I'm excited about that to come out. And then part of also Netflix has like a whole bunch of dramas coming out and content from South Asia. There's another one coming out called The Royals, which I'm excited to see because it has Ishan Kattar and it has Bhoomi. I forget her last name. Bhoomi. Her name is Bhoomi. Bhoomi Pindakar? Yes. Oh, she's in it too? I didn't know she was in it too. Yeah, it's her, the love story between them two or something between them. Wait, isn't she so much older than him? We talked about it. Remember how I think they released a song or a teaser beforehand before they launched the trailer. And I did find them to be an odd pairing for a romantic movie or a series in this case. But now that they've expanded and I see the ensemble of the other actors and actresses in it, the supporting, I think it'll be a much more than a lovey-dovey romance tale that I initially thought. So I think it'll be good. I agree. I think we talked about it a couple of, I think a couple of episodes ago where we were talking about all the new releases coming out on Netflix and it was like a teaser. You're right. It was a teaser. Originally, if I ever, someone told me like Ishan Kattar and Bumi were going to get in a movie together, I would have been like, ah, I don't know. But they actually look good together in like the cover that I've seen of it. And even the teaser, it looked like it's going to be a fun movie. I don't know. I'm excited to watch it. Hopefully it's good. It's coming out May 9th on Netflix. So we'll keep you guys posted. I'm not sure if it's a movie, right? Not a series? No, I think it's a series. A series? Yeah, I think so. Yeah, it's a series. Correct. Well, regardless of the age difference, I think they do look much better than maybe PC and Nick Jonas even to this day. Wow. Talk about just putting that under there. I mean, PC and Nick Jonas for Ridge is just like the bottom of the bottom. Yeah, I kind of feel that way about them. There was a thing with Nick Jonas actually recently, just today I saw Mahesh Babu's wife and kids went and saw him on Broadway, because I guess they were visiting New York and he's on he's in a Broadway show and then Mahesh Babu's wife, her name is Namrata Shirodhkar. Yeah, she's another actress. Yeah, she's another Bollywood actress. They met, actually they fell in love in a movie that they did together. And they've been together ever since. It's really cute. But, um, so she posted saying, uh, saying, giving thanks to Priyanka Chopra for making it happen. Like got them, got her, got them seats and stuff. And that makes sense. Cause Priyanka Chopra is doing the movie with Mahesh Babu. So they probably just all became friends. So there's the connect, connect, connect all the dots. That's the movie she's doing with SS, right? Rajmoli. Oh, yeah. Also, it may be the same Broadway that Hrithik also visited. Um, uh, And Priyanka Chopra got him tickets and his girlfriend as well. Yeah, because it's Nick Jonas' show. I didn't realize it was his show, but I did see that too, the picture of all of them together and Priyanka. I didn't know you guys were friends and hanging out. I don't think it's necessarily a friendship thing. It's more of a PR marketing strategy at this point. I mean, the hubby's in the musical and she wants to make it more global, I think. They're doing Chris 4 together, right? Yeah, exactly. I think that's probably the signing of the contracts happened with all that. Yeah, that's interesting. It's like when we go abroad or to a different... Hey, you want to hang out at this bar? You want to go to the Broadway show? Their friends just happen to be a little bit more elite than my regular friends. You mean like if I'm in Jersey and you're in Jersey, you want to go out to a restaurant and eat? Yeah, let's go. Oh, you got hookups in Edison? Yeah, let's do it. I do have hookups in Edison. See? See? You can get into that restaurant? Wow, yeah. Oh, you got us a free appetizer? Sweet! I like that. Our bar is free appetizers, and there's our free ticket to the Broadway show. Exactly. Front row. And meet the actors in the back.

UNKNOWN: 7:12

All right.

SPEAKER_00: 7:13

All right. I think... But did you guys... Talking about Netflix movies and shows, did you see what Ibrahim Ali Khan's grandmother said about his performance in Nadania? The truth. Sharmila Tagore, right? Yes. Yes. Yeah, it was pretty funny. The truth. So, okay. Again, I thought the movie was good. I thought the acting was terrible. But Sharmila Ante said, he looked very handsome, but the movie was very bad. Again, where's the lie? Well, Gavi, you're one person who has told me that you like the story. Nirthi also said she liked the movie. So it was me and Nirthi. So there's two people that you know. Plus, I think you just said your cousin. Yes, my cousin also said that she's like, yeah, the acting wasn't great, but the story was good. And I still haven't watched it. I'm hoping to watch it maybe this weekend if I get some chance to watch it. So I will let you know my feedback on that movie. Again, you'll be the tiebreaker between me and Ridge because I thought the movie was... The story was okay. I was entertained. I probably never watch it again. But Ridge thought it was total trash. So... If you... end up liking it, I am telling you, you'll never get a free pass to judge any other movie I watch. Well, that's not fair. I mean, you watched Suki. She watched Bay. Oh, she didn't like Bay, though. Okay, Nadania does not come close at all. Okay, how about Suki? How about Suki? Suki tried to give some meaning or messaging at the end of the day. Poorly delivered, I will say. Nadania had nothing. It was just a decent, entertaining high school story. That's it. That's what you're going for. I'm going for that. That's exactly what I'm going for. It's not like anything to... I'm not looking for thought-provoking. Yeah, I'm not looking for thought-provoking. I'm not looking for any of that stuff. I just need mindless TV in the background. Good, because you won't get it. Okay, great. Perfect. But it's an easy watch, I thought. I felt. Well, going from there, from Netflix, going to Prime Video has season four of Panjayat just came out. So I think we talked about Panjayat. Did we ever talk about Panjayat in this series? I think we hinted at it, but we didn't go into depth. I don't think either of us or any of us have really watched it, but we know that it's a really good series and wins a lot of good reviews and awards. Yeah, I heard it's supposed to be really, really good. So the fans have been waiting for season four to come out and it's officially coming on July 2nd on Prime Video. So whoever wants to watch it. You know what else I want to watch on Prime? That Bandish Bandits. It's like about singing or something like It looks really good. I saw a clip of it and that clip was so good. I was like, wait, what is this? I've never heard of this movie. I mean, this show, but it looks really good. I want to watch that one too. There's so many I want to watch, but you have to commit to them. You really have to come in. That's my biggest problem, commitment. I think after getting married, I don't like to commit to anything else. I think that's the most commitment I can do. No, it's a long-term one. Yeah, Alyssa's really worth our time. Oh, by the way, sorry. I just finished this Korean show called Karma. Oh, yes. It's really good. I deeply committed to that one and it was very good. I highly recommend it. I saw reviews of it. I haven't seen it yet. I saw reviews of it, not reviews, clips of it. And it looked really, really good. Super good. And I like the comments coming out where people are like, oh, this doesn't happen all the time to one person. You don't know how many times things like that happen to people. So you cannot be a judge and make those type of statements. So I want to watch it. I like that actress. She's a very good actress. So I think I will, I know it's like my type of story, but I think I'm going to watch it just to see like how good the acting is. It's very good. And all the acting is just so, it just looks like so effortless on all of everybody. I mean, that's why I talk about the Korean show so much because it is so, the stories are good and the acting is so good. And you're just like, where is this taking me? Just like kind of like taking it all over the place. And you're like, wow. And then you just took a jump about it. Well, this week's episode, we want to talk a little bit more about the female role in Bollywood. And even in the Indian film industry, we could talk about the other parallel cinemas that goes on in South Asia and how the female role has evolved from starting to up to now. What did we see? Because I don't remember watching a lot of the 40s movies or anything like that, or even 70s movies. For me, it's 80s, 90s, and the 2000s, right? So for you guys, what do you guys see? for the role of the female character. Do you guys have any thoughts on that? In general, for me, like when I first started watching Indian movies, probably like in the 80s and stuff. So I didn't watch any of the 40s and 50s and 60s. But like I'm talking about like the Lagoon Indian movies. And back then, I just remember like usually like the mom was a housewife and like did all the house chores and took care of the kids. It wasn't the Bollywood, the heroine that took over everything. the storyline. The storyline was usually about the man or maybe it could have been family problems or something, but it was mainly led by the man. And I remember even watching like anytime I, the commercials and stuff, it would always be the, the hero. The hero was the big, the big thing that brought people into watching the cinema. Like it was for us, for, for me, it was like Chirunjivi and Entiramarao. Like those were like the big names. And then later on you hear, Oh, Sridevi or Jayaprada or, you know, Jayasada. And now it's like, It's very different now than it was back then when I first started watching Indian movies. I agree, Kavi, with how the heroine role was really seen as more of a supporting type of character in the movies. And it goes back in the earlier decades, for sure. They were just there for the little bit of glamour and beauty to support the main actor and role. I will say, I'm not sure about the 80s much, but the 70s really put a lot of the Bollywood heroines in the limelight. As far as glamour and iconic role goes, so there's the Hema Malini, who's the quintessential dream girl, and it was a lot about the grace and being strong as a character, like a main heroine role, but still she was a side character. to the actual actor or the movies in Sholay. But then there's also Zeenat Aman, right? Where she was one of the bigger characters who tried to play with the modern and more... I think trying to shake up the... traditional art type, I think, that they had. It was more independent and breaking some of those stereotypes with the Western ideal. I think in the 80s, we kind of probably went back to the more traditional cultural roles, like the mother, the victim type. I don't know. What do you guys think? I don't really know much about the 80s, but... How do you know more about the 70s and not the 80s? Because their roles are so... We talk about it in that iconic heroine episode. Some of those folks are still so... I don't know, strong in their personality. And I keep going back to Zina Thamon. I don't know. I really have her as a very iconic character I look up to. Some of the, some of the researches that, some of the researches that I was doing, it was talking about like in the 40s to the 70s, a lot of the character, women character, even though there might be courtesans or they might be moms and things like that, there's still some character development between them, right? Like when you think about a strong female from like in the 70s or something like that, or even earlier than that, you think of like mother, Mother India Nargis played that role and that was like really about her and the cover was like of her with it so when I think about like older movies that's one of the main movies that comes in my head not a lot of them but that's one of the ones comes and what Covey, you were saying that, yeah, in the 80s, a mom's role of, like, being at home and, like, usually emotional, right? Like, they're the emotional character. They're all the weepy, weepy ones. Every time. A little, like, victim. I'm the victim, that type. I'm the victim or, like, you know, like... Like the norms, that patriarchal norm that they say is that, oh, they're at home and cooking and taking care of the family and the kids. And if the kids misbehave, it's the mom's fault because the mom is the one who's raising them at home because the dad's at work doing the work stuff. So I feel like the shift from like what we saw in the 70s with Nargis having that type of role and then going to the 80s where things like changed a little bit and came into the 90s where we watched a lot of the movies, right? Even though you mentioned like Zina Thaman and stuff like that, I feel like women became more sexualized a little bit more in the 80s and 90s, you'd be like, oh, they're more modern in that sense, where they're wearing Western clothes and things like that. Not in the 80s much, but 90s definitely, I think. 90s definitely, right? Yeah. I think that's what we see in that sense. So, yeah, I think Zinith Aman is one of the ones that we talk about a lot in the 80s. Is it 80s, Zinith Aman? 70s. Zinith Aman was more 70s. And 80s, again, like you said, kind of transitioned to more the sacrificial and suffering type of character roles for women staying at home. 90s, I think it gave more time to a lot of female roles. I think that's when we see the Madhuri Dixit, Kajol, Raveena Dandan, Karishma, they started to grow. So we had a lot more. I wouldn't say these actresses were the leading, leading solo character in a whole movie, but they definitely had a longer screen presence starting from the 90s? They did, but if you really think about it, was it really that they had actual roles or they're somehow helping the men somehow being that other... Like a supporting role as opposed to like having actual character development. Like they did a lot of like, oh, she's crying, so I got to go save her. Like more of a savior type of thing. Like, oh, I need to go save her. There were always the damsel in distress type. Always a damsel in distress. Like, some goonda has them, so I got to go save them. Her dad locked her up, so I got to go save her. Society hasn't get there. I got to go save her.

UNKNOWN: 17:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 17:41

But if you think about real, real life, Karishma fought to be in the movies, remember? She was not allowed to be part of the film industry. So in that way, you can say, okay, she was a strong female actor. personally, because she fought her way to be in the movies, even though she was playing a damsel in distress in the movies. Even Karina, we talked about how their family didn't let women, the women in their family usually didn't act, even if they were actresses once they got married, they didn't go back to acting. They just were at home, homemakers. And nothing's wrong with being homemakers. Just to be very clear, nothing's wrong with that. But that's what it was always portrayed and never portrayed anything different for women. And even if they were portrayed as homemakers, it was like more of like a one dimensional and that's all they did. They didn't do more than that. And homemakers are not always in distress, right? They're not crying for help. They're equally strong and independent at home, if you really want to portray it that way. We have English Vinglish. Do you remember? That's where Sri Devi is a homemaker, but such an independent character. Kavi, I know this is a very favorite movie of yours, Queen, and I know you have thoughts on it, but that's also, Gangana wasn't a very glamorous corporate girly to show a mod Yeah, so that's where the evolution like changed, right? Like originally, we saw them just, you know, having smaller roles, not character development. And then we saw a change into this section of like patriarchy where like the women are written in such a way that it was still men saving women or like some type of romance coded because they're like the romance part of the guy not having really independence or their dad is telling them what to do. So they must sacrifice everything for family and they must get married and things like that. Like if you think about, like even if you think about, if you guys remember we talked about it with the music last week, but like if you think about, What does she end up doing? Even though she loves someone else, she's sacrificing her love for family, even though she doesn't want to be with him, right? You're so right. Again, going back to the sacrifice, ultimate sacrifice. Even though I was shown as a chirpy girl studying, I have my own, I'm like, you know, happy-go-lucky, but at the end of the day, I am that sacrificial lamb that's giving away because I'm the woman. Yep, exactly, exactly. See, like, exactly like that. Or, like, in other movies where, like, other ones, it was funny because I remember the specific movie, um, If you remember the movie, I don't know if you guys have seen that movie. It's a movie. Yes. Sometimes you would see a woman get assaulted in a movie. And what would the, what is there? Like, what do they do to resolve that assault? It's more like, Oh, why don't you just marry this person? Oh my God. Yes. Get married with your rapist because you may get pregnant. And what is culture and society going to say that? Yes, that storyline is definitely backdated and you definitely saw a lot more of it back in the day as far as female characters go. But I'm glad we're seeing an evolution of that. And I think it may go back to once Bollywood started opening up more globally and getting more of the global audience from 2000s onward. I think they needed to take a back seat from some of those traditional story plots. Yeah, and I think I think I agree. I think the female part changed when it became that global, like it started, like Bollywood became out there in the global international world a little bit more. Yeah, so I think in the 90s, it was more about, like, the obedient or, like, the sanskari women that they talk about. And then, like, if they were not that, then they were too modern and they're too Western and they're not, like, marriage material. And then they have to, like, very fast, very fast. And then they change, like, change their clothes and become, like, dissy and sanskari and things like that, right? And then, like, the 2000s comes in and then we see a little bit more movies coming in where, like, everybody was naked. Wait, what? What movie are you thinking of? I think, I mean, this, I don't, I'm pretty sure this is a 2000s movie, probably not early 2000s, but Cocktail, where she's just wearing like, they're all wearing just like nothing. 2010s on. Yeah, 2010s on. But early 2000s, with the like baby steps, right? Like we talk about, people talk about fashion, how it was like very female led, it was Priyanka Chopra and Kangana Ranautkar in it, right? And then, I loved that movie. Yeah, you did say you love it. And then for me, a movie that like, which one? Which movie? Fashion. 2008. Yeah. Okay. There was a movie. You guys remember? You should know this one. Lajja. There's a song from Buddy Mushkil. Yes. That movie was really good because... There's only, it was a lot of females and different stories of the females. Like every female had its own story went from like, you know, a marriage, a wedding where they were asking for like dowry and they're like, and what the, what the female did in that situation. Or like one who was like Madhuri's character, I think was, was a either like pregnant, like not married, but pregnant. And like what happened to her. And it was a story between Manisha Kaurala running away from an abusive husband or something like that. And each woman she met had some different story of their life. So that was a really good movie. And how slowly into the early 2000s, they slowly changed their role a little bit more. Giving them more dimension to them as opposed to just being the heroine on the side and things like that. Well, the stories were more like female based versus like male dishum dishum and all that kind of stuff. It was more like stories, female stories. Yeah. And honestly, Lecce is one of those movies, one of the first movies I think of when I think of an all-female ensemble in Bollywood, because I think there were six or seven. Even Urmila was in it. And I don't know if Tabu was in it, but I remember watching it. It was a really good movie. But early 2000s, we also saw some of those solo female-led movies like Black Widow. where Rani Mukherjee held her ground. Let me just yawn again. Hey, I'm not saying it's exciting, but it was great to watch a female. I know, you said the acting was really good. Yes, yes. But then Devdas, for example, of course, Shah Rukh Khan had that main role, but Aishwarya and Madhuri also held their own and had equal spotlight. And then there's Preeti Zinta And again, I know we all have feelings of how that movie really is, but she really led the movie. I don't necessarily think of Saif Ali Khan, for example, to be the star of the movie. I think of It's Nana's story because it was a very strong character. Yeah, I mean, I didn't like that movie. That's what she said. As I said, I know some of us feel. She means us. And that's a Shah Rukh Khan movie. And I was like, this is dumb. I mean, it's not dumb, but it's not. It's not kuch kuch otay and kabi kushi kabi gum for me. But is this when do you think that the industry started listening to women to give them more better roles? Do you think that was happening? Or do you think it was more like, oh, globally, we have to change our vision of how we have women? I have thoughts on that. I think it's not just... I think it's more... Not the Bollywood, the heroines, like the people that we see on screen. I think there were a lot more females behind the scenes, like in terms of cinematographers, choreographers, directors, assistant directors. I think there's a lot more females that influence the storytelling. That's what I think. And that kind of helped bring in more female oriented characters on the scene. That's a good point. That's really good point. I also do think that it's the global interest that grew once we hit the international market that had the emphasis. Because again, I keep seeing this almost all episodes. Money talks. And if the producers are seeing that more global countries like a more independent storyline, female-led storyline, and have more female-led movies, they will make that shift. But I don't think it necessarily But I think that that shift, global shift is happening now, not ever. in the early 2000s. Like now you're seeing Netflix come in buying rights for certain movies or Amazon coming in buying rights for certain movies. And they're doing it basically based on popularity and of course storyline as well, but mainly because of popularity. But I don't think that shifted the storyline's 20 years ago, like in the early 2000s, 2010s. I think now that's happening for global, globally. I think they slowly started moving that way, right? Like even if you talk about like the early 2010, like 2012, you talked about cocktail, right? You just talked about cocktail earlier. We're talking about that. But if you remember the movie Cocktail, right? Deepika's character was supposed to be like this modern girl living on her own, like living with her boyfriend. And, you know, it's so cool. And like she's out partying, drinking. That's her life. That makes her like really cool. And then she like lets this like quiet girl come live with her. And then her boyfriend at the time, live-in boyfriend that she's living with, ends up falling in love with the quiet, since Scotty girl, because she's more of that type of personality, as opposed to the free-minded, the free-spirited, the Western or the modern type of girl. So they still kind of went back to it. They would show the characters being these strong females, but in the end, they were like, oh, well, I still want this one that I think is more of a marriage material, kind of like that. For sure. Now that I think about Cocktail, I am more 100% angrier, so much angrier at Saif Ali Khan's role. It's a guy's fault. Deepika and Diana Penty's characters, they were balanced. One is the modern, independent, and like you said, the other is traditional. But it was really Saif Ali Khan that broke down the archaic background backdated feeling of, oh, let me have all the fun with the modern hype hot girl, but then family would love it if I settled down with the traditional bohu. So it gave me more anger now at Cephalicon's character than initially when I watched it in 2010, I'd say. I thought of it just as another regular rom-com that ended how it's supposed to, but going back, you know, 10 years, 15 years later, it makes me angrier now. to like know what do you think about like what the story actually was right like you think about like yeah what they made it seem like and what they were portraying for that to be yeah so like i think they started so they slowly started with that right and then like now we go back into where we are right now where we like later on like the movie is like a piku piku was piku was like a female right it was a female i mean granted i mean that button was on it like everyone goes to watch his movies but like she did such a good job in no kevi I don't go to watch Amitabh movies. I'm sorry, it's not, it's not gay. No, but he does hold a certain grandeur, for sure, and does get a certain type of people who are, like, always fans and will watch it. But it is the Because movie, and it is Irfan Khan's movie, I'd say. Yeah, yeah, and those are movies that we know. And even, like, we talk about Razi, right? That's Alia Bhatt's, like, maybe fourth or fifth movie. And she did such a good job portraying Razi. Even Highway. Even Highway. Highway, she was so good. She was like number... I think that was her second movie or third movie, right? Something like that. She was like a baby. She was a baby. And it was such a good movie. And it was a female-led movie. So even... I mean, I think there's still progress to happen, right? We still have to have a lot more progress going through because we talk about... all of the themes, like you talked about Gavi, that there's more women in the industry, like the backend, like helping behind the scenes, the writers and things like that. And one of the writers that we know that, or like one of the directors that we know are, one of the top directors we know is like Farah Khan, right? Like one of the ones that we talked about in the backend that Farah Khan is one of the ones that has come out And not only Farah Khan, like, I mean, some of our favorite movies or serials is Zoya Akhtar and Rima Kangti, right? Like, Made in Heaven. So good. And female written, female directed, female produced. And it's the stories we want to see. And it's female-led, too, because you talk about that character. Female-led. She's an amazing character that we all love and love to watch. Mira Nair is another great female director. Also very good. What was she doing? Mountain Wedding. And I think 1947 Earth and Another Water also with Jot. Water. Yeah. And then those were like early, early on. Early movies. And then now we have like Gangubai type of movies, right? And that movie was just full female. It was just a female led movie. But I think that also is like Sanjay Leela Bansali, right? He always has strong characters, strong female characters. Hira Mundi, like, like you guys talked about earlier, Dave Das, like with Madhuri and Aishwarya, all his females are such strong characters. All his females were very, very strong. But in this particular, there was, there was no, there was no real love story. If you really think about it, there was a small little thing between him, five minutes. But even then he didn't cast like a big, big, actor right all of his movies have huge male leads as well it's not just a huge female yeah this particular movie was just the female lead and i think people were like oh how is it going to really do because usually in the theaters a female-led movie doesn't do that well like it is okay but to be like that good like people didn't know what to expect from it and actually was very well done i don't think i'd ever watch it again because it's very very it really gets to you but like It was, when I watched it, it was so good. It was such a well done movie. I know we mentioned No One Kills Jessica, but Vidya Balan also did Kahani and The Dirty Picture. And those were great movies. And then I love Alia Bhatt in many ways, but just wanted to emphasize that she really is one of these early actresses that took bold choices in female-led scripts. We mentioned Highway and Razzy and Gangupai, but she... did that from a very young age, from the very start. That's true. But I feel like that's because other women have fought for her to get to those roles, right? Like Vidya Balan, like you just said, like you said Vidya Balan, like she doesn't do any more movies where she's like a side character, kind of like her movies are always like about, like there's another movie called Tumari Sallu. I don't think I've actually, right? She's like a, it's cute, right? It's a cute movie about like a married woman who wants to become a radio personnel. Is that what it is? She becomes like a phone sex operator at the end of the day. Okay, sorry. I didn't realize that's what it was. I thought she was just a radio jockey. But it was good. It was like she led the film. It wasn't raunchy or anything. It was really nice. I know she's quirky, his personality in real life. We don't think she's quirky. We think she's crazy. Hey, I'm trying to use nice words here. But her movie, Stanuwet's Manu Queen... Even her latest movie, Emergency, she's playing Indira Gandhi. I haven't seen it, but it's on Netflix. I want to see it, but I haven't seen it yet. As you're mentioning, other actresses like Tapasi Pannu also. So amazing. She bothers me, but she does good movies. Her personality as a person might not be the greatest, but as an actress, she does good movies. Tapar is one of the movies that she did really well on that. Yes, amazing in movies. So there's Pink and Badla. They're very nice as well. Yeah, Pink was really, really good. Really, really good. But I know there's Shefali Shah, Sobita Dhulipala, Radhika Apte. They've started some really big ticket OTT series. And we mentioned those too. But I'm excited to see how female characters lead in the non-movie platforms as well. No, I agree. I agree that we talked about the series that they are coming out and a lot more of those. And I think, again, it goes back to, I feel like it goes back to who are writing these characters, right? Are we seeing men writing women characters? Are we seeing women writing women characters? And I think that's where the difference comes in for us. And I think that's where it gives us more powerful characters. And this is probably why we like the OTTs a little bit more because there are a lot more women writers in OTTs as opposed to like the big blockbuster movies where it's not women writers. We're still having male writers right women and like oh protect me oh save me oh you know I have to be a certain way so men can marry me like those type of stories like we don't want to see those type of things anymore right like we don't we don't want that we want like badass heroines like in like Mardani like the Rani Mukherjee's character in that one or like even emotionally flawed like in Piku she was like you know kind of annoyed by her dad here and there because of like how her life is because of how his behavior is things like that so I mean it's it's interesting to see where this is all going to lead in the future. And I hope it's better. And I hope it's like more character development on women and like more women in the background writing these stories for us. I don't know. Actually, maybe you won't guess this. Let's see. You might guess one piece of it. This aging superstar has been having a bad phase in his career. He has gone from being the number one challenger to the throne to being replaced in movies. Is it the same person? No, it's not who you think it is, Wendy. As per a source, a young heartthrob has replaced the aging superstar in at least three projects. Filmmakers feel he's younger, acts just as well in comedy movies, and comes at the third of the cost. To add to it, the young heartthrob is having a great run at the box office. Can you guess the seller? Akshay Kumar. So young. Yes! I think at first you thought it was Salman Khan. And go ahead, Rich, you're... Your young heartthrob, yes. Replaced by Karthik, yeah. I just don't understand why he has that nickname in all the blinds. It's just not true. He's so gross. Who thinks he's a heartthrob? You know what's so funny? The very first comment is, can we stop calling Karthik Aryan a young heartthrob? He's not a heartthrob in any sense of the word. He's not a heartthrob. I left that comment. Yeah, your name is Michelle. Okay. Actually, your nickname is Misha, right? Because it's Michelle Misha. No, I agree that he's not a heartthrob. And he's not young. He's in his 30s. Like, young to me, young heartthrob is the new guys coming in. You know, like Iggy. Even Ishan Kattar, even though he's been here for a while. Like, those people are young heartthrobs. Not stupid Karthik Aryan. Well, that was a blind. Good guessings on all the heartthrobs and aging superstars. Is that the only one we got today? Yeah, the other one's kind of dumb. I was honestly thinking all the old actors. There's Amar Khan, Salman Khan, and Shah Rukh Khan is not replaceable for sure. I thought Muni was going to say Salman. No, when you said replaced, I don't think Salman, Shah Rukh, and Amar get replaced in movies. Akshay Kumar does just so many movies that I feel like he would be replaceable. You know what I mean? The other movies, other people, not really replaceable because he doesn't have time for that movie. So they need to find somebody else with freer dates. Is that what it is? I thought they replaced him that's what it yeah replaced but probably because akshay kumar didn't have dates because he's doing 10 000 other movies that's what i think that's exactly and then and then like karthik aryan's like taking all of like akshay kumar style movies like come on you are not akshay kumar from that like well belaya 7 25 good to know he only gets paid one third of akshay so oh he shouldn't get paid at all it's still a lot it's a lot yeah Alright guys, it's time for the vows. Are we ready? I think so. Alright, I'm going to start. My vow is a song called Tere Bina Na Guzara. It's by Josh Brar and Kinza Hashmi. It's a Punjabi song and it's just really, it's kind of old school Bollywood-ish almost, but it's really cute. Like it sounds cute to me. I don't know what they're saying it's in Punjabi, but it just sounds really, really, really cute. What is it called again? Tere Bina Na Guzara. Without you... I can't live. I can't, like... B.

SPEAKER_02: 39:03

Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you. All right. All right,

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Ridge, hit it to give us your vow. All right. My vow is the song. All right. from the movie Ramayya

SPEAKER_03: 39:54

Vastavaya.

SPEAKER_00: 40:36

Now, I haven't watched that movie. It kind of looks very silly. And the actor looks, like, very weird and chirpy. I don't know. But the song is by Atif Aslam and Shreya Ghoshal. And a beautiful melody. I saw that movie. And it's, like, a copy of the movie with Salman Khan and Kajal. Where he sings, oh, I forgot the movie's name. It's a much copy of that. But, like, it was really bad. It was so bad. The actor was really bad. All right, Muni, what's your song? Okay, my song is this song called Nasha from the movie Raid 2 because we already saw Raid 1, right? So there's Raid 2. This is Aj Ki Raat Part 2. This is Aj Ki Raat 2 because it's Tamanna Jailer, Jailer Nu Kavalaya. It's like, she looks the same in all three of these songs. She looks exactly the same. She dances the same in all three of the songs. All of her outfits are the same. Her hairstyle is the same. It's out and she's doing the same. Same type of thing. Sorry, when we say she, we're talking about Tamanna Bhatia. Yeah, Tamanna Bhatia. That's who we mean. And the song is by Jasmine Sandals and Sachit Tandon. And I don't know. The beats are really good. I don't know how much I love Jasmine Sandalis. Her voice is so good. Sandalis. Yeah, she has a really cool voice. So that is my vow for the week. Very good. Good episode, guys. Thank you. And if you guys like our episodes or don't like it, leave us messages. Give us feedback. Give us something. If you want to hear about a different episode, different topic, let us know. You love us? Love us? Hate us? Just tell us. If you hate us, don't tell us. I want to know. I want to know who the haters are so I can hate you back. I don't. I don't. Okay. Bye. Bye.

SPEAKER_01: 42:24

Like, follow, share. This is the worst. I don't know. I thought you were singing another

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dumb song that you made me put in the

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90s. Date it!