Few storytellers have been able to capture the many shades of power held by women in society as effectively as Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Shonda Rhimes. The women that exist in the stories of Netflix’s Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar and Bridgerton wield many weapons, whether it be the inscrutable power of Lady Whistledown’s pen or the tantalizing allure of a tawaif. Both Bhansali and Rhimes don’t try to box their female characters with stereotypes of either femininity or feminism, showcasing a diverse range of women who are both strong and imperfect.
Let’s look at the five ways Shonda Rhimes and Sanjay Leela Bhansali portray powerful women on screen: The matriarchs of Bridgerton and Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar From Violet Bridgerton, fighting tooth and nail to ensure that her children choose love over societal norms, to Mallikajaan leading an army of tawaifs to ensure her daughter Bibbojaan knows she’s not alone in her final moments, these women show vastly different sides of the matriarchal figure. Yet, both Rhimes and Bhansali understand the fierceness with which the matriarchs love their own, and the extent they’re willing to go to protect them, damned be the rules of their society. The silent revolutionaries of their stories Penelope Fetherington through the persona of Lady Whistledown is completely able to shake up the status quo of London’s Ton simply through her sharp wit.
Bibbojaan uses her enchanting allure to extract key strategic secrets from the un.
