Mumbai – 2025
For decades, female characters in Indian cinema were largely written by men—often through a male lens that reduced them to stereotypes: the sacrificial mother, the glamourized love interest, the abused woman in need of rescue. Even when written with sympathy, these characters were oftencrafted from distance, not understanding.
Today, that distance is narrowing. A growing number offemale screenwriters are writing women with nuance, agency, contradiction, and specificity—and the results are redefining both representation and narrative structure in Indian storytelling.
A Shift from How She Looks to What She Wants
Historically, female characters existed to:
- Motivate the male protagonist
- Add emotional or sexual value to the plot
- Embody moral binaries (pure vs. fallen, victim vs. vixen)
But in recent projects penned by women, we see female leads who:
- Desire without shame (Lust Stories, Qala)
- Question family structures (Thappad, Darlings)
- Pursue flawed choices (Made in Heaven, Lipstick Under My Burkha)
- Exist as full characters even when not likeable
The difference isn’t always in plot—it’s in perspective.Women writing women tend to allow more space for silence, contradiction, and self-definition.
Writers Leading the Change
- Kanika Dhillon (Haseen Dillruba, Manmarziyaan): Writes women who are emotionally chaotic and sexually assertive—without moral correction.
- Reema Kagti (Made in Heaven, Talaash): Explores women in complex socio-cultural settings, often balancing personal freedom and societal performance.
- Zoya Akhtar (Luck By Chance, The Archies): Crafts layered female characters without resorting to tropes of strength or victimhood.
- Alankrita Shrivastava (Bombay Begums, Lipstick…): Focuses on the inner lives of women under social pressure—career, identity, family.
- Tamannaah Bhatia, Shefali Shah, Konkona Sen Sharma: Now co-writing or shaping narratives they act in—ensuring lived female experience shapes storytelling.
Impact on Genre and Narrative
- In romantic dramas, women are no longer just “waiting”—they initiate, sabotage, withdraw.
- In family stories, motherhood is deconstructed, not glorified.
- In crime and thriller genres, female characters are agents, not victims alone.
- In biopics, the lens is no longer about achievement alone, but also about invisible emotional labour.
The result:representation that is complex, unpolished, and finally, human.
Systemic Barriers Remain
- Studios still underestimate female-led scripts when attaching budgets or stars
- All-male writers’ rooms often sideline female collaborators to dialogue polishing
- Sexuality and trauma in female-led stories is often questioned, toned down, or restructured for “market appeal”
- Tokenism continues—some female writers are added after the male story is locked, limiting structural input
The Way Forward
- More female showrunners and creators—not just contributors
- Industry-wide support for writer-director mentorships for women
- Enforce gender balance in writing rooms
- Recognize and credit emotional depth as narrative strength, not as slow pacing
- Treat female-led narratives not as a subgenre, but as a standard format
Final Word
When women write women,we don’t just get better female characters—we get better stories.
Because the goal is not to reverse the gaze, but tobroaden it—until every kind of woman can see herself, not as decoration or cautionary tale, but asa narrative force in her own right.
