Rhea Kapoor: the woman who made 'chick flicks' as a genre cool again!

Rhea Kapoor has given the Indian audiences a genre that was truly missing in Bollywood - chick flicks and here’s why her women centric films feel relatable and soup for the soul at the same time!

In my teenage, I remember watching movies like Legally Blonde, Mamma Mia, Princess Diaries, Confessions of a Shopoholic among many other American movies and wondering why we don't have movies in Bollywood that make me feel seen as a girl or portray female friendships on-screen that feel relatable to watch. You know, the ones that we can binge on during sleepovers and give movies like Mean Girls, a break for once. Then came a film called ‘Aisha’ and after a really long time, a Bollywood movie made me feel like I could live my main character life too. The clothes, the songs, the makeover, it all felt like something I’d wanna do when I grow up. My besties and I eagerly waited for the film and it’s been thirteen years since its release. It still holds a special place in our hearts when it comes to watching it over and over without getting tired of it.

Then came Khoobsurat. I was mesmerized by the palace Milli stayed in just as much as she was. Just like any other Disney love story, our very own Indian Disney princess love story too made many of us feel represented and it was just such a light hearted film that we enjoyed. How Milli’s joyfulness melted the ‘sakht’ royal khandaan was wholesome to say the least. And even though there was an eye candy like Fawad Khan in the film, it was Milli’s character that carried the narrative.

Also Read: Rhea Kapoor's Thank You For Coming trailer looks like a bold and playful exploration of female pleasure and friendships

Veere Di Wedding revolved around the friendship of four women. All of them were in different stages of life. One’s about to get married, one’s getting divorced, one just had a kid and one’s exploring everything about her sexuality. But two things stay common between them all, their friendship and how vocal they are about their opinions. Be it not wanting to marry into a family Kalindi knows she wouldn’t fit into or back answering aunties who judge you for your lifestyle, Veere Di Wedding was about the women of today and the fact that we’re not here to be suppressed by anyone. 

Taking a step further, while the film hasn't released yet, from what we know through the trailers and what the cast spoke about, the core of Thank You For Coming is female pleasure. This in itself feels empowering when you think about the amount of women who’d be able to relate when they watch this film. It’s an untouched subject that truly needs to be talked about and let's hope that this film facilitates better conversations around it. 

Rhea Kapoor caters to an Indian woman’s need when it comes to the kind of content we’d want to watch. Chick-flicks is usually used as a derogatory term to indirectly say that the movie makes no sense. But Rhea Kapoor owns up to that term given to her films and proves that the definition of it is wrong in every way possible. Her films make us want to grab our girl gang to the theatre but we'd also want the men in our lives to watch these films.

While these films might not be masterpieces, they just feel like content being made for women by a woman. She treats the actresses in her films the way we see actors being treated in movies for years! More screen time, a way more meaningful role and genders being reversed in songs. Case in point -Tareefan from Veere Di Wedding. She defies every stereotype about women in her movies and here’s hoping she makes more films that we'd love to watch!

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