Is Bollywood’s ‘Girl Boss’ Narrative Empowering Or Just An Illusion?

Walk into a multiplex today and chances are the poster staring back at you shows a woman in bold eyeliner, her gaze fierce, with a tagline that screams empowerment. Bollywood has clearly fallen in love with the idea of the ‘girl boss’, the ambitious, independent woman ready to take on the world. From Gangubai walking with pride in her white saree to sportswomen swinging their bats against patriarchy, these films are held up as proof that Bollywood is finally giving feminism its due.

But, when you look a little closer, another question emerges: is Bollywood truly breaking down patriarchy, or simply dressing it up in a more glamorous form, in a pink-washed package?

The Spectacle of Success

Gangubai Kathiawadi, Shabaash Mithu, and Chhapaak were pitched as powerful films that would give us layered portraits of women fighting to break barriers. But, most of them end up reducing those struggles into neat arcs of victory.

Gangubai was praised for giving a sex worker political heft, but much of her politics was turned into spectacle. Shabaash Mithu celebrated ambition while skimming past the entrenched sexism in women’s cricket. Even Chhapaak, one of the more nuanced attempts, was marketed less for its politics and more as an “inspirational tale.”

Again and again, these women are framed as superhuman, exceptions is that their success is presented as if it cancels out systemic inequality.

The trend hasn’t slowed down. In fact, Mrs. Chatterjee vs Norway and a series of OTT releases through 2024–25 kept framing women as lone warriors taking on the system, powerful in the moment, but reduced to formulaic inspiration.

And it isn’t only Bollywood. Hollywood, too, runs on the ‘girl boss’ template, whether it’s the icy career woman in The Devil Wears Prada, Marvel’s sleek superheroes, or even the pastel-pink empowerment of Barbie. The formula is global: turn feminism into entertainment and ambition into a style statement.

Filtered Feminism

This narrative overlaps with Instagram feminism, the kind that thrives on the aesthetics of empowerment. Much like reels and quotes that shrink feminism down to “work hard, dream big, wear your crown,” Bollywood too leans on the glossy surface.

Think of captions like “slay, queen” or “boss babe vibes.” On screen too, the slogan shines brighter than the struggle. For many young women, it might feel empowering in the moment, but when the movie ends and real life looks nothing like the montage, the gap hits you.

Who Really Gets to Be a 'Girl Boss'

Most films focus on urban, middle-class women. Their struggles are real, but they don't show the layered realities of working-class or marginalised women. You hardly ever see how caste, class, and gender come together in these stories. By highlighting only the exceptional, Bollywood ends up making empowerment look like a privilege.

The problem is even worse behind the scenes. Bollywood puts women front and center on screen, but off-camera, pay gaps, ageism, and sexism are everywhere. The same industry that makes its films sound feminist rarely makes workplaces safe or fair for women.

Scholars have pointed out that this is the danger of market feminism, a kind of empowerment made to sell, without really tackling the bigger structural problems.

It’s similar to Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In feminism: all about individual ambition while brushing aside systemic inequality. Bollywood’s ‘girl boss’ fits right into this mould.

That’s not to say every film falls into the same trap. Thappad and Darlings showed more nuance, digging into patriarchy in homes and relationships instead of turning everything into a motivational montage. These exceptions show that Bollywood can do better when it avoids pinkwashing.

More Than a Montage

It feels powerful to see women leading films that used to be dominated by men, watching them own the screen as ambitious and unapologetic. But real, progressive storytelling needs honesty, it means showing ambition without skipping over the hard work, and presenting feminism as a collective struggle, not just a solo hustle. Until Bollywood does that, its ‘girl boss’ biopics will remain glossy costume dramas: feminism as a slogan, not a revolution.

So the question is: if feminism is reduced to a tagline and a pantsuit, who is it really serving, women, or Bollywood’s box office?

Views expressed by the author are their own.