The Royals director Priyanka Ghose opens up about Zeenat Aman's smoking scenes: ‘Males writing female parts did not get these small nuances'

Indian Express

27-05-2025

Veteran actor Zeenat Aman made headlines for her portrayal of a pot-smoking queen mother in the new Netflix web series The Royals. While some felt she was reduced to a shallow character, others opined that her smoking and drinking scenes with Sakshi Tanwar was about Bollywood finally showcasing its female characters as bold and real. In a recent interview, the show's director Priyanka Ghose opened up about Zeenat's smoking sequences and how actual Bengali women were her inspiration.
During a conversation with News18 Showsha, the filmmaker reflected on how projects created by females are shaping characters on screen. She said, 'It's a huge privilege that women who are producers and studio heads are green-lighting stories that allow you to have these kinds of things where women go beyond their dead husbands and explore love affairs once again. And because there are women in power who are not judging women, there has been a sea change in the way women are being represented.'
'For the longest time, women were being misrepresented across films and series. The males writing female parts did not get these small nuances, because at the end of the day, a woman smoking in a scene is not changing anything. It doesn't change the dynamics of the scene, but it gives you an insight into the character. It tells you how bold she is, that society is accepting of her doing this, and how we have progressed, so we are not going backwards anymore. India is looking ahead. We can accept a lot of things,' Priyanka added.
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Priyanka Ghose spent her childhood in Calcutta, where she never saw women smoking as a taboo. It was only after moving to Mumbai that she realised how often women who smoke are judged by society.
'Bengal was always ahead of its time, and women were always treated with a certain amount of respect. I had grown up watching my aunt and everybody having a good time going to clubs and never being apologetic, because it doesn't define your character, just because you are equally having fun with men around. I'm not frivolously saying this,' she stated.
'All the women in my family are hardcore career women, but they are also the people who run our house, our families, taking care of every single person. It doesn't take away from their matriarchal roles either. There's a great balance with which you can represent women. Wanting to drink or smoke or have multiple relationships or exploring one's sexuality is not seen in a bad light [in the show] because it should not be seen in a bad light. It doesn't define the integrity of the character,' the filmmaker concluded.
Besides Zeenat Aman and Sakshi Tanwar, The Royals also featured Bhumi Pednekar, Ishaan Khatter, and Nora Fatehi, among others.