How feminism, not Bollywood, is drawing global audiences to Indian films in 2024

In 2024, as Bollywood struggles to find its footing, a small film by an Indian woman with a nuanced story is making headlines not only at home but around the world.

In May, Indian filmmaker Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine As Light made history by winning the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival.

In the months since, All We Imagine As Light has become a titan of independent film, taking film festivals and the awards circuit by storm. The film has been named Best International Film by prestigious associations such as the New York Film Critics Association and the Toronto Film Critics Association. It was also nominated for two Golden Globe Awards, including Kapadia’s win for Best Director.

It has also been included in several Best Movies of the Year lists, including the BBC and the New York Times.

And it has friends.

The coming-of-age drama “Girls Will Be Girls,” directed by Shuchi Talati, won two awards at the Sundance Film Festival. Kiran Rao’s Laapata Ladies (Lost Ladies) has been on India’s Netflix top 10 list for at least two months and has been named the country’s official Oscar film (a controversial decision) . Lapatta Ladies did not make it to the academy’s shortlist. This was achieved with British-Indian director Sandhya Suri’s Hindi film Santosh, which was selected as Britain’s Oscar entry.

Is this sudden wave of success for Indian cinema an anomaly or a long-awaited shift in global consciousness?

“This is a culmination of both,” said film critic Shubhra Gupta, noting that these films were not “made overnight.”

For example, Girls Will Be Girls director Shuchi Talati and co-producer Richa Chadha went to college together when they first came up with the idea for the film. “They’ve been working on it for years,” says Gupta.

“It’s a complete coincidence that 2024 is the year these movies will be released and the conversation will start happening.”

This lucky arrangement was a movie dream. The global impact of these films is rooted in their quality and exploration of universal themes such as loneliness, relationships, identity, gender, and resilience. With strong female voices and unconventional feminist narratives, these stories venture into unexplored territory in mainstream Indian cinema.

The film All We Imagine As Light, made in Hindi, Marathi and Malayalam, follows three immigrant women in Mumbai as they navigate empathy, resilience and relationships. The story delves into themes of loneliness and socio-political situations, and interreligious Hindu-Muslim relationships, especially seen in the character Anu (Divya Prabha)’s bond with Siaz (Hridu Haroon). A close examination of is depicted.

Kapadia told the BBC that although the women in the film are financially independent, they still face restrictions in their personal lives, especially when it comes to relationships.

“For me, love in India is very political…Women seem to care in many parts about so-called family honor and protection of caste lineage.So if she is of a different religion or different If you marry someone from your caste, to me it’s just a way to control and infantilize women,” she says.

Talati’s Girls Will Be Girls explores female adolescence through the story of a 16-year-old girl studying at a strict boarding school in the Himalayas and her fractured relationship with her mother Anila, who struggles with her own weaknesses and conflicts. , explores rebellion and generational conflict. Unresolved emotions.

“This is a kind of coming-of-age film that we don’t do at all in India,” says director Gupta. “He is very empathetic and looks at women with a very warm gaze.”

“A time when people could experience emotions with or without their bodies and minds and explore that without infantilizing it. That was never a part of mainstream Indian cinema,” she added.

Kiran Rao’s Laapata Ladies did not perform well at the box office but received warm reviews from viewers and critics. Speaking at a BAFTA screening in London this month, Rao described the current moment as “a really special moment for women in India” and expressed hope that stories like this will continue in the future. .

Her film is a satirical comedy about two newlyweds who accidentally switch places on a train because of their veils. The film offers a sharp commentary on patriarchy, identity and gender roles, marking a shift from decades of male-dominated mainstream Indian cinema.

After the screening, the film’s co-producer, Bollywood star Aamir Khan, said, “Many of us who have a patriarchal mindset often become that way because we were brought up that way.” . “But to get out of this mindset, we need to understand and at least try to help each other.”

The biggest surprise of the year came from the UK, which selected British-Indian director Sandhya Suri’s Hindi film Santosh as the Oscar winner. The film was shot entirely in India over a 44-day schedule and featured a predominantly female cast. Santosh, starring Indian actors Shahana Goswami and Sunita Rajbhar, was co-produced by people and companies from the UK, India, Germany and France.

The film is essentially an Indian story about violence against women and is set up as a tense thriller.

Goswami says the success of ‘Santosh’ and ‘All We Imagine as Right’ shows the merging of borders and the expansion of the film industry, creating space for cross-pollination and exchange. .

“We often think that these Indian films need a[particular]cultural context, but that is not the case. Emotionally driven films, regardless of their origins, resonate universally. ” she told the BBC.

Three of the films, All We Imagine as Light, Girls Will Be Girls and Santosh, have one more thing in common. This means that it is a cross-border collaborative production.

Goswami agrees that this could be the formula of the future.

“For example, if you are a French producer, your film will have the opportunity to be seen by French audiences who follow that producer and the wider film industry. This will make your film more globally accessible and relevant. It becomes something,” she says.

In Bollywood too, several films with female leads achieved great success this year. Story 2, a horror comedy about a mysterious woman who fights a monster that kidnaps free-thinking women, became the year’s second biggest hit and was in theaters for several months.

On the streaming platform, Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s sumptuous Netflix series Heera Mandi: Diamond Bazaar, which examines misogyny and exploitation in the life of courtesans in pre-independence India, is one of the most searched TV shows on Google this year It became.

Their success seems to indicate that there is a growing appetite for such stories, and their wide appeal is due to the fact that mainstream films can tackle important themes without sacrificing entertainment value. is shown.

Despite systemic challenges, 2024 has highlighted the global power of Indian women’s voices and the demand for diverse stories. This momentum could be crucial for the Indian film industry in gaining wider distribution for independent films and paving the way for a more diverse and equitable film environment.