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Tired of shape-shifting reptiles and saas-bahu wars on your TV? Check out these 3 series for women, with well-rounded female characters on Netflix and Amazon Prime.
So yes…my transition from TV entertainment to the internet is complete. Now I am just one phone call away from disconnecting my cable subscription.
In the meanwhile, the last I heard was that a bunch of you were hissing at the umpteenth season of a shape-shifting reptile who is ruling prime time nowadays. Or if you don’t have the stomach for it, some of you, I hear, are having to eat an insipid diet of kitchen wars and neighbourhood gossip.
I was beginning to think that there was no hope for the female kind at least in the entertainment business…until I came across these series.
So I implore you to finally cut the umbilical cord between you and terrible content being churned out in the name of entertainment; for here are 3 series which you must catch up with on the Internet. Strong, interesting and layered female characters, women whom you can laugh with and at and most importantly, stories which stay with you long after you have turned off that WiFi button.
A story about two old ladies in their 70s living in California, USA. How interesting can a couple of women in their seventies get? Well, you are about to learn.
The series begins with the reveal that their husbands who are business partners are also…wait for it…homosexuals and in love with one another. And if that was not all, they want to leave their female spouses to marry each another.
Reeling from this shock quite late in life, these women are forced to live together in their beach house which they co-own. And while it may seem that this is the end of the road for them…wait up sisters…the fun is about to begin.
From getting in touch with their exes to making new boyfriends, to successfully launching a vaginal lubricant as well as a vibrator for older women and getting in touch with their sexuality, this series is truly an eye-opener and inspiring for millions of women out there who have given up on themselves.
Pushpavalli (her name, ironically, means ‘Creeper’) is a single woman in her 20s who has developed a single-minded obsession for a man she met briefly for a few days in her hometown, in Bhopal.
Ever since, she has been plotting and planning to plant herself (pun intended) into his life. And with a lot of conniving, bribing the local Chai boy aptly named T-Boi, she even succeeds. But she will not stop at mere re-acquaintance. Pushpavalli has got it inside her head that the man will love her right back. And we all know how that turns out.
With each passing episode, we realize that Pushpavalli is becoming more and more obsessive and will stop at nothing, including self-harm, misleading and lying compulsively. The height of her plight is when she actually resorts to kidnapping the man’s diabetic pet and pretending to search for the pooch along with the man. Do you think what she does is wrong?
So, a lot of you may argue…why should Pushpavalli and her criminal tendencies be of any interest to us?
Well, because Pushpavalli knows exactly what she wants and she will stop at nothing to get it. Even if it means breaking into the house of the man she is obsessed with. She may not be honest with others around her…but this woman is very in touch with her feelings and she is honest with herself. Move over you slimy, slithery shape-shifting female characters in the name of entertainment. We need some more real women like these.
While her husband aspires to become a stand-up comic, this one can make you pee in your pants and she knows it. So when her husband leaves her with two kids to traipse into the sunset with…well, yes…his secretary, she takes matters and the mike into her own hands one drunken night and from there on begins her journey into the male-dominated and fiercely protected territory of stand-up comedy.
Crackling dialogues, some wonderful chemistry between the characters, excellent writing…something which you will rarely, if at all find in the limpid stuff which is being meted out today, in the name of TV.
Start with these series and then ease into the more serious stuff.
All images are from series promos found online
First published at author’s blog
I write because I love to express myself through words. And I am a communicator. I run an advertising agency where we combine creative expression and try to add a sheen to the brands we read more...
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People say that women are the greatest enemies of women. I vehemently disagree. It is the patriarchal mindset that makes women believe in the wrong ideology.
The entire world celebrates International Women’s Day on March 8, 2024. It should be a joyful day, but unfortunately, not all women are entitled to this privilege, as violence against women is at its peak. The experience of oppression pushes many women to choose freedom. As far as patriotism is concerned, feminism is not a cup of tea in this society.
What happens when a woman decides to stand up for herself? Does this world easily accept the decisions of women in this society? What inspires them to be free of the clutches of the oppression that women have faced for ages? Most of the time, women do not get the chance to decide for themselves. Their lives are always at the mercy of someone, which can be their parents, siblings, husband, or children.
In some cases, women do not feel the need to make any decisions. They are taught to obey the patriarchal system, which makes them believe that they are right. In my family, I was never taught to make decisions on my own. It was always my parents who bought dresses and all that I needed.
14 years after her last feature film Dhobi Ghat, storyteller extraordinaire comes up with her new film, Laapataa Ladies, a must watch.
*Some spoilers alert*
Every religion around the world dictates terms to women. The onus is always on women to be ‘modest’ and cover their faces and bodies so men can’t be “tempted”, rather than on men to keep their eyes where they belong and behave like civilized beings. So much so that even rape has been excused on the grounds of women eating chowmein or ‘men will be men’. I think the best Hindi movie retort to this unwanted advice on ‘akeli ladki khuli tijori ki tarah hoti hai’ (an alone woman is like an open jewellery box) came from Geet in Jab We Met – Kya aap gyan dene ke paise lete hain kyonki chillar nahin hain mere paas.
The premise of Laapataa Ladies is beautifully simple – two brides clad in the ghunghat that covers their identity get mixed up on a train. Within this Russian Doll, you get a comedy of errors, a story of getting lost, a commentary on patriarchy’s attitude towards women, a mystery, and a tale of finding oneself, all in one. Done with a mostly light touch that has you laughing and nodding along.
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