'Bombay Begums': Netflix's female-led show marks return of Pooja Bhatt

The six-part series revolves around the lives of five women in Mumbai

Pooja Bhatt plays the lead in Netflix series 'Bombay Begums'. Netflix

A female-led drama about life in Mumbai city will not only shatter glass ceilings but also focus on the hearts broken in the process, says its director.

Bombay Begums, which uses the old name of the city, will follow the lives of five women from different generations and economic backgrounds as they try to survive in contemporary urban India.

The six-part series launches on Netflix on March 8, which is also International Women's Day.

“[It’s] a story about Indian women that I hope women in India, and across the world, will connect with. The series explores the complex journey of working Indian women who are ambitious for power and success, but have many other battles to fight, too. It’s the story of their daily hustle, the story of their dreams – sometimes buried, sometimes fulfilled,” director and show creator Alankrita Shrivastava said in a statement. “I have tried to create a world that reflects the realities of urban working women.”

Shrivastava is best known for her female-led films and TV series including the controversial 2016 dark comedy Lipstick Under My Burkha and the hit Amazon Prime series Made in Heaven, which she co-wrote.

The show also marks the return of Pooja Bhatt, who’s returning to a lead role after more than 10 years.

What’s it about?

Director Shrivastava says Bombay Begums "explores the dreams and desires of five women from different strata of society as they fight for survival in the Maximum City". Begum, which used to be an aristocratic title for Muslim women, is now colloquially used as an honorific address.

Bhatt plays Rani, which also means "queen" in Hindi, a high-profile banker in Mumbai navigating a man's world and her relationship with her rebellious stepdaughter Shai, played by Aadhya Anand. The two women's lives become intertwined with three other women through a twist of fate.

Acclaimed actress Amruta Subhash plays Lily, a dancer in a bar who yearns for respect; Shahana Goswami is Fatima, whose pregnancy threatens to derail her career; and Plabita Borthakur plays Ayesha, who is determined to rise to the ranks in the corporate world, at any cost. Actors Rahul Bose, Vivek Gomber and Danish Husain play supporting roles.

"When a woman enters a room, she might not feel like she owns the room in the same way a man may feel," Shrivastava told Indian news agency PTI. "In many ways, my characters are actually going through that process of putting themselves at the centre of their own lives and not feeling guilty about it."

A major comeback

Bhatt, who made her acclaimed big-screen Bollywood debut in the 1991 film Dil Hai Ke Manta Nahin, has not been seen in a major role since 2010's Everybody Says I Am Fine!. While she's gone on to direct and produce a number of films, she says she thought she was done with the acting phase of her life.

"That first part of my life was over. I had moved on in my head," she told scroll.in. "And then to be offered this. I jumped at it because I thought it was something that would give me more than the other stuff out there. It came to me at a time when women are told, you have gone past your prime."

Director Shrivastava, who counts herself as a fan of Bhatt, says the actor had the perfect combination of strength and vulnerability she was looking for.

"I loved her in Daddy and Zakhm and I have watched Dil Hai Ke Manta Nahin 21 times. It was my sister's and my favourite thing to do during our summer holidays," she told scroll.in. "I thought there is something very real and modern about her, which was very refreshing."

All about women

While most of her films have revolved around women, director Shrivastava says that’s not deliberate but rather instinctive.

"These stories interest me, these are characters I am passionate about developing and these are worlds I like exploring. I never wanted to be a filmmaker for the heck of it. I must tell stories that mean something to me," she told scroll.in.

All six episodes of the series are also named after books by and about women.

"I don't want to say that I'll never make a film with a male protagonist. I think I'm interested in people who don't have it all," Shrivastava tells The Hindu. "Right now I'm very happy to work on more stories about women, their thoughts, their lives and their complexities."