More often than not, filmmakers in Bollywood travel down the dicey path and touch upon trigger-inducing topics of social importance. Domestic violence is one such subject. Abuse of any kind demands attention and a call for help. While it’s often said that abusers pick their victims, it’s entirely up to recipients on how they’d wish to tackle the issue. Mustering up the courage and calling out on the crimes is the way forward, and here are a few movies that inspired millions with their powerful storytelling to stand up for themselves.

Darlings  

Alia Bhatt, Shefali Shah, and Vijay Varma’s Darlings sheds light on abusive marriages. The powerful narrative amped by brilliant acting makes it one of the must-watch movies of the month. It started streaming on Netflix on August 5, 2022, and fans couldn’t help but laud Bhatt and Varma’s superlative performances. In this dark comedy, the protagonist (Bhatt) feels that if her husband stops drinking, everything will be back to normal. But, that never happens. The manner in which the storytelling progresses changes the course of the movie, and pushes one to mull over many things.

Thappad 

This 2020 movie is pegged as one of the most thought-provoking offerings of all time. Featuring Taapsee Pannu and Pavail Gulati in the lead, this story is about a dedicated wife whose husband slaps her at a party in front of a lot of people. That’s she decides to walk out of the marriage.  

Parched  

2015’s critically acclaimed is a hard-hitting movie about 4 Rajasthani women, and how they navigate their lives through a rigid patriarchal system. The movie touches upon dowry, lack of education, and a woman’s repressed desires at large. It also shows a story of a prostitute and her household. The men in try every possible way to stop them from evolving, evoking bouts of aghast as one watches the movie.

Hamari Adhuri Kahani  

This 2015 movie had a strong plot of women walking out of abusive marriages. It had a stellar cast with Emraan Hashmi, Vidya Balan, and Rajkummar Rao. Vidya, who plays the role of Vasudha after a long struggle, walks away from her marriage, only to find love again.

Akaash Vaani  

Akaash Vaani is a candyfloss love story, which is peppered with the plight of most married women. Featuring Kartik Aaryan and Nushrat Bharucha, Bharucha essays the role of a distraught wife who is married to a man who forces her to have sex with him. A classic controller, he begins to clog her life until she decides to call it quits.

Provoked  

This is a 2006’s British biographical drama that features Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. The movie is said to be based on Kiranjit Ahluwalia, a woman who fatally burned her husband in 1989 in the United Kingdom. After getting physically, sexually, and physiologically abused by her husband, the protagonist (Bachchan) is left with no option but to immolate her husband. The movie threw up many debates on how justice can be meted out in cases like these.

Lead Image: Netflix