For a long time, Bollywood has been a male-dominated industry. It is not that women were not involved in the production of these films; Bhanu Athaiya earned an Oscar for her contribution to costumes in the film Gandhi (1983).
But like every coin has a flip side, what ended up happening was that women were mostly stereotyped into these assigned jobs, which had more to do with designing costumes or makeup. Many did not get to showcase their perspective behind the camera or on paper. But we live in contemporary times now, and things have changed.
But this journey has been a long and tiring for female directors to get this recognition and the resources to showcase their art and talent. Today on International Women’s Day, we will talk about these talented female directors in Bollywood who defied all norms and took the plunge to pioneer an alternate perspective of cinema: The Female Perspective.
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Fatma Begum
Fatma Begum was an Indian film actress, director, and screenwriter. She is often regarded as the very first female director in Indian cinema. She had written, produced, and directed several films in four years. She founded her own production company, Fatma Films, which became Victoria-Fatma Films, and directed her directorial debut film, Bulbul-e-Paristan, in 1926.
Although no publicly available prints of the movie exist, the high-budget project continues to be characterized as a fantasy film with extensive special effects. If correct, Begum, along with George Melies, would be among the initial pioneers of fantasy cinema.
She became among the first in fantasy cinema, using trick photography to create early special effects. She worked as an actor for Kohinoor Studios, Imperial Studios, and Fatma Films, where she wrote, directed, produced, and acted in her films.
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Mira Nair
Mira Nair is an Indian-American director who currently resides in New York City. Her most widely recognized films include Mississippi Masala, The Namesake, Monsoon Wedding (which won a Golden Lion), and Salaam Bombay!, which was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Film Not in English and an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
Nair was interested in acting before becoming a director, and she appeared in plays written by Bengali performer Badal Sarkar. Nair joined Harvard University’s theatre school and earned a Boylston Prize for her rendition as part of Jocasta’s speech from Seneca’s Oedipus.
Nair’s early filmmaking career mainly consisted of documentaries about Indian customs and culture. Between 1978 and 1979, Nair created a black-and-white film called Jama Masjid Street Journal for her Harvard film thesis. Throughout the eighteen-minute film, Nair walked the streets of Old Delhi and carried out informal discussions with the Delhi locals.
Meghna Gulzar
Her most commonly recognized works include the critically acclaimed films Raazi, Chapaak, Talvar, and Sam Bahadur. Gulzar, the daughter of Gulzar and actress Raakhee, worked as a movie assistant for her father before becoming a scriptwriter for Hu Tu, which her father had directed in 1999. Meghna later went on to independent filmmaking, directing her maiden film, the drama Filhaal. Meghna is the most recognized female director in India.
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Konkona Sen Sharma
After making her directing debut in “A Death in the Gunj” (2017), Bollywood actor Konkona Sen Sharma joined the ranks of female directors. The film was a triumphant debut for Kokana among Indian female directors when it debuted at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival, to the delight of many.
Thanks to the general acceptance of her work for its outstanding storytelling, she was nominated for Best Film (Critics) and won the Filmfare Award for Best Debut Director. At the MAMI Film Festival and the New York Indian Film Festival, she also won awards for Best Director. After gaining recognition as a successful female director, Sharma worked alongside R. Balki, Amit Ravindernath Sharma, and Sujoy Ghosh on the Netflix anthology “Lust Stories 2.”
In this Season, her “The Mirror” segment explored themes centred around feminine desire and voyeurism, aspects often uniquely handled by female directors. This work further solidified Konkona Sen Sharma’s reputation and skill as a female director, earning her the Filmfare OTT Award for Best Web Original Film (Critics) and highlighting her evolving narrative voice in the landscape of contemporary cinema.
Deepa Mehta
Deepa Mehta, a Canadian filmmaker and screenwriter born in India, is best known for her Elements trilogy, which consists of the movies Fire (1996), Earth (1998), and Water. Water was Canada’s official entry for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, whereas Earth was India’s.
Water is the third-place non-French Canadian movie to be nominated within this group, after Zacharias Kunuk’s 2001 Inuktitut-language movie Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner and Attila Bertalan’s 1990 invented-language picture A Bullet to the Head.
Shonali Bose
With the critical and financial success of the films Margarita with a Straw and The Sky Is Pink, Bose’s status as an independent filmmaker grew significantly. Bose’s film, inspired by the tale of her cousin Malini Chib, a disability rights activist, earned both a NETPAC and a Sundance Mahindra Global Filmmaker Award. Bose is a passionate philanthropist who supports a variety of charity projects.
Gauri Shinde
Gauri Shinde is one of the most popular female directors in India. Gauri Shinde made her debut in a feature film as a director in English Vinglish (2012), a movie based on Shinde’s relationship with her mother, who worked in her pickle shop out of her home in Pune and had a Marathi-speaking woman who didn’t speak English fluently, which humiliated Shinde as a kid.
She then made the film Dear Zindagi, which was about a depressed cinematographer and the interactions she has with her therapist, which changes her outlook towards life, relationships, and existence. The film was one of its kind in Bollywood and was appreciated critically. The film started a much-needed conversation about mental health both in real life and in films, which led to the recognition of the problems concerning mental health and the resources available for them.
Gitanjali Rao
Gitanjali Rao is the writer and director of Bombay Rose, a feature-length animated film that premiered at the 34th Venice Critics Week 2019. Since September 2019, the motion picture has played at 25 global screenings and won four awards. Gitanjali made her international debut through her animated short Printed Rainbow, which premiered and received three awards at Cannes Critic’s Week 2006.
The film appeared on the 2008 Oscar shortlist and won 25 prizes. She is also an actor, having debuted in Shoojit Sircar’s film October, earning her five awards for Best Supporting Actress.
Zoya Akhtar
Zoya Akhtar is the most influential female director in India. She made her directorial debut with the movie Luck by Chance. Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, an ensemble comedy-drama, was her breakout film. Along with numerous other ventures, Akhtar helmed the comedy melodrama Bollywood Dil Dhadakne Do.
With the romantic comedy-drama show Made in Heaven and the crime mystery series Dahaad (2023-present), she reached the above-the-top (OTT) market. She wrote (along with Reema Kagti) and directed the real-life Netflix feature film adaptation of The Archies in 2023.
Reema Kagti
She made her directorial debut with the highly acclaimed Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd. (2007). She went on to direct the neo-noir film Talaash (2012) and the period sports drama Gold (2018). In October 2015, Reema and Zoya Akhtar founded Tiger Baby Films, a movie and web-producing firm.
Through their work, these female directors have not only shattered stereotypes but paved the way for a more inclusive and diverse Bollywood. As we celebrate International Women’s Day, let’s continue to support and champion the incredible talent and perspectives of female directors in the film industry.