A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far, away, someone came up with the archetype of the long suffering, self-sacrificing
bharatiya naari. A host of epic poets, authors, playwrights and (most recently) moviemakers latched onto this template and churned out works that contained one or more women cast in that mold. This was lapped up by gushing fans and the genre prospered and flourished.
Sometime in the 20th century, people sat up and said, “Hmm… Maybe the
bharatiya naari isn’t what we suspected all along…” This lead to unprecedented ....