“Some women are born to rule. They bleed for their dreams and expect others to
bleed for them. I am not sure if I want to be that kind of queen. I think I rather
lead the rebellion.”
Netflix India’s original series Bombay Begums is a tale of women and features
every aspect of what women go through in their everyday life. From rising from
the throng to be the best to facing the world that often puts them down. The
begums find solutions to survive in the Bombay city gracefully. It first stirred a
hype for itself when it faced legal issues for projecting teenagers in a negative
light. But the fast pace and tightly put together script with a stellar cast makes it a
must watch series. Directed and written by Alankrita Shrivastava who is also
known for films like Lipstick Under My Burkha and Dolly Kitty Aur Woh
Chamakte Sitaare and just like these films, Bombay Begums too did not
disappoint.
It revolves around the lives of 5 women at different stages in life. The youngest,
on the onset of her youth, Shai, Rani’s step - daughter, who also narrates the
series through her art and in form of having a conversation with her dead mother
and the oldest Rani who just as her name literary translates to is the Queen. From
the onset of puberty to workplace harassment.
The five-woman come from different walks of life and related either directly or
indirectly to The Royal Bank of Bombay. Rani (Pooja Bhatt) the CEO of the
bank who is in the constant battle to save her position and everything she has
yearned for and is also a matriarch figure. Followed by Fatima Warsi (Shahana
Goswami) who is climbing the ladder of success but with personal conflicts. the
youngest in the series is Shai (Aadhya Anand) a thirteen-year-old with mommy
issues, she feels lonely and depicts the phase we’ve all been through of having a
crush and doing our best to create an impression but in her bid to do so she ends
up hurting herself. Ayesha (Plabita Borthakur) a small-town girl who dreams to
be the CEO of The Royal Bank and last but not the least, Lily (Amruta Subhash)
a bar dancer and a single mother who single handedly steals the show and longs
for respect. The woman face misogyny in their everyday lives but come out of it
like queens.
When given a close look, we realize that each begum represents the problems
and dilemmas women face every day at different stages of life. Shai is every
teenage girl, waiting for puberty and for that perfect someone. Ayesha, is
exploring her sexuality but also a victim of workplace harassment, whereas
Fatima, on her ladder to success is left stranded in the middle of her domestic and
professional life. Lily, a bar dancer, bags every opportunity she finds in order to
get a life of respect for both her and her son. Rani, is in constant strife to save
everything she has achieved from a bank teller from Kanpur to the CEO of Royal
Bank.
The series is a raw representation of women doing everything they can to survive
in the Bombay. These women question and judge each other in some parts of the
story but as the series begins to conclude its first season, we see them uniting and
coming together. We also often see that web series or films ignore the biological
changes women go through even if the films are women orientated. Bombay
Begums, decided to change that, we see Rani’s character being on the onset of
menopause though she is in denial.
Bombay Begums is a cocktail of work politics, sexual exploration, the climb of
the ladder of the success, sexual desires, motherhood and workplace harassment.
But, the exploration of many topics in one go, makes it a little too much for the
viewer to handle but has its heart set in the right place. Bombay Begums
perfectly manifests the struggle of women in the cut throat world and how
women are shattering the glass ceiling. The series is a fresh approach in
displaying women on screen and how they face and stand up against the
patriarchy and misogyny every day.
- Aadya Punj
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