Poster of Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi from JioHotstarDecades have seen Hindi daily soaps presenting a blueprint which exemplify women as vessels of sacrifice. Indian television did not ask women to be complex but rather patient; to endure and to absorb. Across living rooms tuned into the wave of daily soaps that followed, the “ideal woman” was often written as someone who gave endlessly and questioned very little. Sacrifice was not just a trait, it was the personality of a

Poster from IMDB There is something oddly comforting about the Hindi daily soap Anupama. It looks familiar, loud, exhausting and revolves around a woman who is expected to hold it all together just like home. But the question we do not ask enough is, “Does Anupama really have agency or is she just surviving better than before?” The initial episodes did portray her as a strong figure. When Anupama walked out on Vanraj Shah, it felt revolutionary. A woman choosing self-respect

Poster of Aarambhi (JioHotstar) In the ever-familiar world of Indian television where women are often written to endure more than they escape Dr. Aarambhi has taken a turn that feels quietly, almost unexpectedly, liberating. The latest developments in the show don’t rely on shock value or over-the-top twists. Instead, they rest on something far more powerful: a woman choosing herself. For the longest time, Aarambhi’s journey was built on sacrifice. She was the one who adjuste

Patriot and Malayalam Cinema’s uneasy tryst with privacy Movie Poster IMDB Mahesh Narayanan’s cinema, Patriot, brought back an archaic form of communication; an almost obsolete form of communication as a quietly radical instinct in an era where every message is instant, visible and stored. Here morse code was not nostalgia, it was resistance. In a film that otherwise follows a familiar, almost predictable trajectory, this choice feels strangely disruptive. It doesn’t just sit

Poster from JioHotstar “Films entertain”, but some films leave behind a feeling, a character or sometimes a question that lingers long after the screen turns dark and Sarvam Maya is one such film. It disguises the emotional depth beneath the lightness of a supernatural rom-com. Directed by Akhil Sathyan, the film plays around with the idea of illusion, memory and companionship through the character of Delulu. She appears to be a supernatural element full of whimsy: a predam (