Seven Feminist Moms In Bollywood We All Love

As society expects women to give up on their lives and totally devote themselves towards the lives of their children. This stereotype is broken by these Bollywood characters that have strong feminist characteristics. Even though they are imperfect, these imperfections are their own and make them the heavenly ladies that they are. Bollywood feminist moms

Feminist Moms

The often neglected aspect of Feminism would be acknowledging the feminist women that we have around us. They are often criticised and labeled as rude and arrogant for being assertive and firm. These women are not considered as the so-called wife material or mom material as they put themselves first.

We have highlighted and appreciated our feminist dads. Now it's time we celebrate the feminist mom characters that Bollywood has given us.

1. Devki Sabarwal (Sridevi) in Mom

A biology teacher by profession, Mrs. Devki Sabarwal who has a stepdaughter named Aarya. As the movie proceeds further, Aarya is brutally raped and left to die by four men after she leaves from a party. As Aarya recovers from that and reveals the identities of the rapists. Her memory is challenged for being drunk. 

As the case falls apart due to the lack of evidence, Devki loses faith in the system and takes matters into her own hands. She is seen to be taking revenge from the four with the help of others.

Even though it is not advisable to break the law, Devki portrays strong qualities of taking charge of her life and not sitting around depending on someone. Also, the most important quality of a feminist mom depicted in the movie is the way Devki loved Aarya as her own irrespective of being her stepmother. All this leads us to break the stereotype of defaming stepmothers and instead encouraging a healthy bond.

2. Sulu (Vidya Balan) in Tumhari Sulu

Sulochana Dubey, often lovingly called Sulu (Vidya Balan), is a middle-class housewife. Sulu is a woman who enjoys her life to the fullest. She lives with her husband Ashok (Manav Kaul) and 11-year-old son in Virar.

Maria (Neja Dhupia) finds the extroverted nature of Sulu interesting and calls her for an interview. Sulu laughs throughout the audition but at the end, says 'Hello' in a sensual tone, which impresses Maria.

3. Garima Chowdhury (Shabana Azmi) In Jazbaa

Sia, an outgoing, carefree, and spontaneous artist who rarely completes her art pieces, has an open-minded mum, Garima Chowdhary. Garima allows Sia to live the life that she wants. Even though the mother-daughter duo has their own set of issues in their relationship, Garima is seen to be supporting the young adult through her life choices. 

When Sia is raped and murdered by Niyaaz, a drug dealer, after delivery, her mother sought to avenge her daughter. He not only kidnaps the daughter of Advocate Anuradha Verma but also gives the rapist and murderer Niyaaz the death that he probably deserves. Even though her character breaking the law is not advisable, it depicts the display of strong feminine emotions for their children. 

In the end, when Garima is about to be arrested, Anuradha sets up in her defense as her lawyer even after knowing that she had kidnapped her daughter. That's a sisterhood for you. While often women are criticised to be picking up the so-called catfights with each other, we see a woman stepping up for another woman who avenged her daughter. 

4. Shivani Shivaji Roy (Rani Mukerji) in Mardaani 

The relationship between a mother and a child is not defined by blood. It is also not necessary to define this beautiful bond by law or any other words. The actions of a woman in the love and care of a child define her as a mother.

In the movie Mardaani (2014),  Shivani Roy is a dedicated Crime Branch Inspector. When her daughter-like Pyaari, an orphan teenager, gets abducted by a Delhi-based kingpin, Rastogi, Roy chases him tactfully. Ultimately, Roy ends up exposing the child trafficking racket and rescuing all the girls. 

Roy shows the clear qualities of a feminist woman who chases her daughter-like teenager going to lengths for her rescue. Strong feminist moms don't sit around complaining about their problems but get up and chase the goals.

5. Shashi Godbole (Sridevi) in English Vinglish

A simple and sweet housewife and a loving mother, they'd describe her as. A strong and evolving entrepreneur I'd call her. Shashi from English Vinglish directed by Gauri Shinde was indeed a feminist mom. As she took charge of her own life. She wasn't afraid to admit her weaknesses rather she was determined to work on them. 

Flying to a whole new country, Shashi not just had the guts to enroll in English Speaking Classes but also to travel along in an unknown country all by herself. She made a lot of new friends and was determined to achieve her goals despite the time constraints. Her niece Radha too supported her Masi and the duo was successful in the end.

6. Vijaylaxmi (Lisa Haydon) in Queen

Noticed by very few people from the audience, Rani's (Kangana Ranaut) friend Vijaylaxmi actually has a son in the movie Queen (2014). She is all that a free woman is, outgoing, openhearted, and instinctual. 

The character of Vijaylaxmi almost looks like a young girl living her life on the edge. But when was it restricted for these girls to be great moms? In fact, one of the scenes shows Vijaylaxmi with her son on her shoulder moving through a crowd with a radiating smile on her face. This is one of the ways feminist moms look today. 

7. Dolly (Dolly Ahluwalia) in Vicky Donor

Society is often quick to blame the imperfect feminists out there. One such woman is the character of Dolly, Vicky's mother, and probably the most realistic onscreen mothers Bollywood has presented.

After the death of her husband, she looked after her family financially and emotionally. She was even open to occasionally sharing a drink with her mother-in-law. And yet, she had reservations against her prospective daughter-in-law being a divorcee, and her son being a sperm donor. Simply put, she was not without flaws, but she was honest. Yet she accepted all at the end and evolved. Hence, an important quality of a rational person is accepting new knowledge without prejudices.

All these female characters depict one or the other characteristics of strong feminist moms. They have either supported their children or led their own lives on the basis of ethical and rational rules which society may or may not approve of. 

And if one asks why such feminist moms are essential, then the clear answer is that multimedia is the easiest and fastest form of propagating new values among the masses. The characters of a movie become immortal and depict the story of their time. These feminist moms set an example for all the moms and dads out there. And most importantly they give the lesson of self-love to women who lack it the most.