If you’re in the mood to indulge in some on-screen feminism, there are plenty of movies out there about women, for women, created by women.
Queen
Queen is a 2013 comedy-drama film in Indian Hindi language that was produced by Madhu Mantena, Anurag Kashyap, and Vikramaditya Motwane. The film is directed by Vikas Bahl. Rajkummar Rao and Lisa Haydon play supporting parts in the movie, which stars Kangana Ranaut in the lead role. The movie tells the tale of Rani Mehra, a shy Punjabi girl from New Delhi who, after her fiancé calls off their wedding, goes to Paris and Amsterdam on her own honeymoon.
Along with Parveez Shaikh and Chaitally Parmar, Bahl co-wrote the Queen script. Film dialogue was written by Anvita Dutt Guptan. Ranaut is acknowledged as an extra dialogue writer. Bahl urged her to improvise her lines while filming. The lyrics were written by Guptan, while the musical soundtrack was performed by Amit Trivedi.
Despite having a ₹23 crore (US$2.9 million) budget, the film became a commercial triumph at the global box office, grossing over ₹95 crore (US$12 million). With a female lead, it is among the highest-grossing Indian movies.
Kahaani
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Sujoy Ghosh is the co-writer, co-producer, and director of this Indian thriller film in Hindi. In it, Vidya Balan plays Vidya Bagchi, a pregnant lady searching for her husband during the Durga Puja season in Kolkata with help from Inspector General A. Khan (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) and Assistant Sub-Inspector Satyoki “Rana” Sinha (Parambrata Chatterjee).
Kahaani, which was co-written by Ghosh and Advaita Kala, was created and produced on a tight budget of ₹80 million (US$1.0 million). In order to avoid drawing notice, the team frequently used guerilla filmmaking tactics on Kolkata’s downtown streets. It was a noteworthy movie because of how imaginatively it portrayed the city and how local actors and crew were used.
Kahaani examines parenting and feminism in an Indian society where men predominate. Additionally, there are other references in the movie to films directed by Satyajit Ray, including Joi Baba Felunath (1979), Aranyer Din Ratri (1970), and Charulata (1964). Setu handled the film’s cinematography, and Namrata Rao handled the editing. Vishal-Shekhar and Clinton Cerejo, respectively, are responsible for the musical score and soundtrack.
English Vnglish
Gauri Shinde is the writer and director of the 2012 Hindi-language comedy-drama film English Vinglish. Sridevi plays Shashi Godbole in the movie, a modest business owner who produces candies and snacks. In an effort to achieve self-respect and to stop her husband and daughter from making fun of her poor English, Shashi enrols in an English-speaking course. Shinde was motivated by her mother to write Shashi. After a 15-year break following Judaai (1997), Sridevi made her screen comeback in this movie, which also stars Adil Hussain, Priya Anand, and French actor Mehdi Nebbou.
Mary Kom
Mary Kom is a 2014 Indian Hindi-language biographical sports film, produced by Viacom18 Motion Pictures and Sanjay Leela Bhansali, and directed by Omung Kumar. It is based on the life of the boxer of the same name. The movie, which stars Priyanka Chopra in the lead role, follows Kom’s journey from her early boxing career to her win at the 2008 World Boxing Championships in Ningbo. Newcomers Darshan Kumar and Sunil Thapa play Kom’s spouse and mentor, respectively. Chopra made her playback singing debut in Hindi for the movie, contributing her vocals to the lullaby “Chaoro”.
Mardani
In 2014 Mardaani was released , which translates to “masculine.” Pradeep Sarkar directed, and Aditya Chopra produced the action thriller. Rani Mukerji plays the lead part in the movie, while Jisshu Sengupta, Tahir Raj Bhasin, and Saanand Verma provide supporting turns. The protagonist of the story is Shivani Shivaji Roy, a police officer who learns details about the Indian mafia’s human trafficking operations through her investigation into the case of a teenage girl who has been abducted.