The Dadasaheb Phalke International Film Festival has put three titles in front of its audience at once: Gangubai Kathiawadi, Akka and Eetha. The grouping is more than a list. It is an argument that female-led filmmaking in India now runs across different genres, tones and cinematic worlds, rather than occupying one familiar lane.
Three entries into one larger shift
The most established title in the group is Gangubai Kathiawadi, the 2022 Hindi film directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali and led by Alia Bhatt. It traces its protagonist from vulnerability to public authority across the social and political landscape of Mumbai’s Kamathipura. The film was inspired by a chapter from Hussain Zaidi’s Mafia Queens of Mumbai, and it is available through Netflix’s official listing.
Akka and Eetha carry less public detail. DPIFF’s post describes them as having distinctive identities and intriguing worlds, but does not supply plot summaries, cast information or release dates. For those titles, the useful next step is to watch their official communications rather than fill the gap with speculation.
What representation requires beyond the lead
DPIFF’s framing pushes against a shortcut: treating a film as women-led simply because a woman occupies the lead role. The more demanding test is whether the character has agency, faces real conflict and controls the point of view. A historical drama, a thriller, a social narrative, a character study and an experimental work can all be women-led if the screenplay hands the protagonist the story.
The visual and narrative design matters as well. Costume, colour, setting, sound and camera language can make a protagonist’s world feel specific rather than interchangeable. When a festival places an established title beside two emerging ones, it asks audiences to look past star casting and consider how the whole machinery of a film supports the character at its centre.
What to watch as the conversation grows
For Hindi cinema followers, the practical takeaway is to evaluate female-led films on the same terms the discussion implies:
- Character agency: does the protagonist drive the plot, or is she carried by it?
- Conflict and stakes: are they personal and public, and do they belong to her?
- Point of view: does the film see the world through her eyes?
- World-building: do production design, music and visual language make her experience specific?
This may be the more useful legacy of the post: it treats women-led cinema as a growing body of work with no single mood or audience expectation. Gangubai Kathiawadi provides a recent, high-visibility reference point. Akka and Eetha remain to be defined by their makers, and their official announcements will carry more weight than an early festival mention.
Source: Dadasaheb Phalke International Film Festival – DPIFF
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