From Chameli to Four More Shots: PNC’s trailblazing women who changed Bollywood

In addition to being a watershed in Kareena Kapoor's career, Chameli changed how sex workers were portrayed in Indian cinema. Chameli was not reduced to the depressing girl-turned-prostitute cliché, which made the role stand out. Rather, she was presented as empathetic, emotionally intelligent, and streetwise. Bollywood's conventional perspective on marginalised women was turned on its head by Chameli's character, who was honest, genuine, and dignified.

The core of this PNC political offering was Chitrangada Singh's portrayal of the extremely conflicted Geeta. In what can be considered one of PNC's first depictions of multi-layered womanhood, Geeta, who was educated, idealistic, and caught between love and revolution, aptly captured the conflict between the ideas of right and what the heart desires.

Trisha, played by Mallika Sherawat, was a woman who was far ahead of her time. A self-assured, career-focused woman who dates to get married, but only when she wants to. She disproved the idea that ambitious women were afraid of commitment and handled relationship problems with clarity and assertiveness—qualities that society typically views as a sign of a woman's disobedience.

Anjana, Siddhi, Damini and Umang form a fierce, fearless yet flawed, and very real quartet of modern women. Damini (Sayani Gupta) is a sharp investigative journalist who is constantly plagued by the stigma surrounding ambition, mental health, and choice. But she chooses to embrace her imperfections as power. Anjana (Kirti Kulhari), a divorced lawyer and mother, is often posed with questions about the 'perfect woman' mould, as she navigates her individual identity beyond domestic roles. Umang (Bani J) is a queer fitness entrepreneur, defining convention with strength, vulnerability, and unapologetic authenticity, which is more often than not, not appreciated. And Siddhi (Maanvi Gagroo), a millennial stand-up comic, usually facing shame for her weight and size, eventually turns self-doubt into self-discovery, capturing the chaos and courage of growing up online. Together, the four women embody a strong redefinition of navigating messy, evolving and deeply human womanhood.

The main characters in Ziddi Girls all set an example, as the title implies. In the Shonali Bose-directed film Ziddi Girls, PNC delves deeply into and illuminates the lives of teenage girls Devika, Trisha, Wallika, Vandana, and Tabassum as they confront issues of sexuality, identity, and rebellion. Ziddi Girls is all about the beginning, whereas Four More Shots Please! was about adult defiance. These girls embody PNC's values by being unabashedly boisterous, inquisitive, and genuine.

Aishwarya Rai's portrayal of Antara is the perfect example of the kind of emotionally complex character that Pritish Nandy Communications is known for. Antara is not your typical love interest. She is a woman torn between the demands of love and her own existential journey. Her vulnerability, intellectual curiosity, and struggle to reconcile her emotions with her ambitions, make her a beautifully layered character, embodying PNC's ethos of unapologetically real women.