Power Games and Menopause

Three cheers to Bombay Begums for showing women at the top getting down and dirty as key players in a high powered corporate hustle…after all why should men have all the fun?

This is probably the first time that women above 40 are shown taking the lead in the corporate world, doing the office hours as well as the ‘afterwork’ and everything in between to get ahead.

Rani, the CEO of a bank is a ruthless go getter fending off scheming rivals even as she deals with her hot flashes, has a passionate love affair with a decision maker that costs her dearly, and tries her best to be the best stepmother possible to two entitled teenagers. Having clawed her way to the top (through fair means and foul) without any ‘foreign degree’ she can be both merciless and compassionate, manipulative and enabling, and knows how to recover quickly from setbacks.

The other women all seem to represent stages of what Rani herself may have been through. From being unfaithful to a loyal husband, to being confused about ones sexuality, to wanting to move ahead quickly in the rat race, to seeking societal validation and ‘respectability’ or even simply being considered ‘desirable’ and ‘womanly’.

While everything on screen can always be criticized for its flaws, Bombay Begums is a sort of coming of age platform for women who have played second fiddle in the Indian content space for long enough. The women span different ages and stages of socio-economic and class spectrums but their personal angst and experience of their bodies and psycho-sexual issues maybe disturbing for many but needs to be seen. It is in everyway a conversation starter.