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🎬 South Asian TV & Film: The Real Villain?
“Bollywood gave us heroines who were either bechari (helpless), vamp (evil), or sanskaari (perfect wife material). Where were the real South Asian women? The ones who are angry, loud, depressed, healing?” et’s talk about how Bollywood shaped the way we saw South Asian women. Growing up, we were shown heroines who neatly fit into three boxes. First, there was the bechari.You know her — she’s always crying, always in pain, usually poor or oppressed. She gets slapped by her in-laws, suffers in silence, and the audience is expected to love her because she’s… what? A martyr? Because she endures everything and never fights back?She was never allowed to be angry.…
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“Healing the Scarcity Mindset That Tells Me I’m Not Enough Unless I’m Better”
Roumaisa’s POV I was a girl born in a house that prayed for a boy. My name? Roumaisa – it means a woman of excellence, graceful and beautiful in character. But I never felt like I was allowed to live up to it. Growing up, my parents were trying for a son. When I came into the world, they called it a mistake. A failed prayer. I became the daughter dressed like a son—my brother Asghar’s old clothes stitched back and handed to me with a cold smile. No one ever asked what I liked. On Eid, while the other girls wore shimmery salwar kameez and glass bangles, I was…
Daughters of Strength, Bosses by Choice