Bollywood films like ‘Thank You for Coming’ and Dhak Dhak explore themes of camaraderie, sexuality and liberation through women’s eyes

Mona

Come Friday, a reverse Cinderella is in search of her hero, the morning after her engagement party, for a very peculiar reason! Karan Boolani’s directorial Thank You for Coming has Bhumi Pednekar, Shehnaaz Gill, Dolly Singh, Kusha Kapila and Shibani Bedi enacting positive roles in this modern-day comedy!

Girl squad films in Bollywood are few and far between. The few that have ventured in the ‘daring’ category, exploring themes of camaraderie, sexuality and liberation, still struggle to gain acceptance. No Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants or Sex and The City, yet the list of female buddy dramas in the Hindi film industry is by and by getting more outings. Here’s a look at a few among them and how they fared.

Relationship issues

Veere Di Wedding

Shashanka Ghosh-directorial Veere Di Wedding (2018) explores female friendship. The plot follows four friends — Kareena Kapoor Khan, Sonam Kapoor, Swara Bhaskar and Shikha Talsania. The film explores issues with relationships, including sexual. The film that wasn’t screened in Pakistan and Kuwait for its explicit language and sexuality, didn’t meet critics’ approval. It reportedly did decently well commercially though, reportedly earning Rs 139 crore, given it was made on a budget of Rs 28 crore.

Buddy comedy

Jahaan Chaar Yaar

Writer-director Kamal Pandey’s Jahaan Chaar Yaar (2022) stars Swara Bhasker, Shikha Talsania, Pooja Chopra and Meher Vij. It is about four friends finally making their Goa trip a reality. This female buddy comedy didn’t impress the critics on account of weak writing and it failed at the box-office too.

Bold take

Lipstick Under My Burkha

Alankrita Shrivastava’s bold outing Lipstick Under My Burkha (2017) won the approval of critics and did decently at the box-office. The film charts the journey of four women — Ratna Pathak, Konkona Sen Sharma, Aahana Kumra and Plabita Borthakur — and their search for freedom. The film won approval on account of realistic portrayals of the female lead characters and effectively batted for normalising women’s sexuality on the silver screen.

Humour and hope

Angry Indian Goddesses

Oscar nominated Pan Nalin’s Angry Indian Goddesses (2015), touted as India’s first female buddy film, moved beyond the fun and frolic, weaving in themes of discrimination and bringing to screen women of substance. Sandhya Mridul, Tannishtha Chatterjee, Sarah-Jane Dias, Anushka Manchanda, Amrit Maghera, Rajshri Deshpande and Pavleen Gujral are part of the ensemble cast. The film might not have done magic numbers at box-office, but touched the viewers with humour and hope!

Connecting link

Lajja

The 2001 film Lajja, directed by Rajkumar Santoshi, focuses on the fight of four women, Vaidehi (Manisha Koirala), Maithili (Mahima Chaudhary), Janki (Madhuri Dixit) and Ramdulaari (Rekha), all names of goddess Sita, to expose societal ills. Vaidehi becomes the connecting link between the women. The film didn’t do well commercially in India, but fared better overseas. It was lauded for fabulous performances by the leading ladies.

Female camaraderie

Parched

Written and directed by Leena Yadav, Parched (2015), tells the story of four women in a desert village, which is riddled with social evils, including child marriage, dowry and marital rapes. Tannishtha Chatterjee, Radhika Apte, Surveen Chawla and Lehar Khan lead this story of women pushing for change. Female desire and camaraderie are central to this film.

Coming Up

Taapsee Pannu joins hands with Viacom18 Studios for a girls’ road trip story titled Dhak Dhak. Tarun Dudeja directs this story of four women, who set out on a road trip to the highest motorable pass in the world on their bikes. This journey of self-discovery has Ratna Pathak Shah, Dia Mirza, Fatima Sana Shaikh and Sanjana Sanghi. The film will be released in October. In what seems like forever in works, Jee Le Zaraa is on the lines of Dil Chahta Hai and Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara. Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Katrina Kaif and Alia Bhatt are supposed to drive this Farhan Akhtar’s travel buddy drama, but there is no confirmation when it will go on the floors.