Zeenat Aman Smoking Weed And Women At Leisure: Priyanka Ghose On Female Agency In Films
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The Royals' director Priyanka Ghose said women executives don't judge female characters, allowing diverse narratives to be shown on screens.
Shabana Azmi recently peddled drugs on our screens in Shibani Dandekar's Dabba Cartel. First, for necessity and then, for thrill. Soon after, Zeenat Aman and Sakshi Tanwar smoked weed in Priyanka Ghose's The Royals. As more women occupy the revered writing rooms and the directors' seats in Bollywood, female characters are being lent a generous amount of agency for exploration. In an exclusive conversation with News18 Showsha, Priyanka Ghose opened up about Zeenat Aman's smoking scene in The Royals and the real Bengali women who became her inspiration.
Reflecting on how projects being backed by women are helping portray female characters with diverse ambitions, Priyanka tells us, '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."
Priyanka explains, '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."
Having grown up in Calcutta, Bengal, Priyanka didn't see women smoking as taboo. She grew up around confident women who had the agency to be at leisure as they pleased. It was only when she moved to Mumbai that she realised that women smoking was largely frowned upon. This jarring insight shaped how Priyanka chose to portray her female characters on screen. 'Bengal was always ahead of its time, and women were always treated with a certain amount of respect," she proudly says.
Priyanka recalls, '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." However, she cautions, 'I'm not frivolously saying this."
'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," Priyanka opines. '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 director concludes.
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They do not necessarily reflect News18's views. tags : Bhumi Pednekar Ishan Khattar Netflix The Royals Location : New Delhi, India, India First Published: June 05, 2025, 14:14 IST News opinion Opinion | When A Maharani Regally Reminds About Real Vs Reel Royals
