Reclaiming Space After 40: Tisca Chopra On Challenging Youth-Obsessed Narratives

Fabulous Over Forty, India’s biggest and boldest menopause festival by SheThePeople and Gytree, is arriving in Bangalore on February 18, at Sabha, Kamaraj Road. It’s a sharp, honest space for conversations around menopause, wellness, ageing, reinvention, and leadership without apology. Grab your tickets here.

At the September 2025 edition in Mumbai, women showed up ready to challenge stereotypes around midlife. Among them was Tisca Chopra, actress and author, who spoke candidly about ageing, claiming space, and the power of sisterhood, setting the tone for a day rooted in courage and self-ownership.

Sharing the stage with actress Juhi Babbar and Shaili Chopra, Founder of SheThePeople and Gytree, Tisca opened up about the quiet conditioning women internalise over the years, and how reclaiming space begins with unlearning the rules that were never meant to limit them.

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Youth, Society, & Reclaiming Space

Reflecting on reclaiming space as a woman, Tisca started with the story of her daughter's first period. As Tisca stepped out to buy sanitary napkins, she noticed a man openly purchasing gutka without hesitation. But when she asked for napkins, the packet was wrapped in newspaper and handed over discreetly.

The contrast struck her instantly. Something harmful is sold proudly. Something natural is shrouded in silence. "Which is why I wrote my book (What's Up With Me?), and which is why I'm at the Fabulous Over Forty festival," Tisca expressed. "There is so much that is shoved under the carpet as women."

She reflected on how, from a girl’s first period to menopause, she is handed an unspoken rulebook. Constant cautions about how to dress, behave, speak, and even smile. Over time, she added, those instructions quietly shrink a woman’s world until she begins editing herself without even realising it.

That shrinking doesn’t stop at home. It follows women into workspaces too. Tisca recalled a project in 2016 where a director had repeatedly assured her she was part of the film. Everything seemed locked in. Then, just four days before the shoot, the assistant director called to say they were going with someone younger instead.

"In a business that glorifies youth and beauty, I felt perhaps that's not where the story is actually at," Tisca shared. "There is space for the films with the youth and beauty, all glorified with Switzerland and chiffon saris for shots. But then there is other stuff also."

The 'other stuff' is what excites her today. Like Chutney, one of the most-watched short films online, where she deliberately stepped away from glamour. The character wasn’t aspirational or modern. Just an ordinary woman with natural skin and no polish. But sharp, observant, and powerful.

For her, that’s where the real stories live. "Stories and connections are true power rather than youth and beauty. And that is when I think I found and reclaimed my own space."

Starting her acting career in the 90s, Tisca said there were barely any women on film sets, just background dancers or hairdressers. Things, she believes, are changing now. She sees women DOPs and production designers commanding teams, lifting heavy equipment and calling the shots. "This is the world I want my daughter to live in," Tisca expressed.

Is Sisterhood Enough?

But if even women sometimes don’t support women, where does sisterhood stand? Tisca compared it to old survival instincts. The caveman days when women had to compete for approval and protection from one male head. That conditioning, she believes, still lingers.

"Patriarchy and anti-sisterhood exist so deeply within us that sometimes I myself have to combat it." She spoke about watching her mother cook and clean after long workdays while her father relaxed until, slowly, he began to change. Small gestures first. A cup of tea or a meal. Her approach to challenging patriarchy is similar.

"You have to call it out in a subtle way because a man is not deliberately evil. That is how we have grown up. We have to start challenging it in our homes first, not by anger, but with a hint of sarcasm and humour."

Ageing, Writing, And Letting Go

As the conversation shifted to ageing and beauty, Tisca didn’t sugarcoat. She accepted that hormones change. Skin and bodies change. And often, other people notice before you do. She admitted she is still figuring out how much of “looking good” is professional pressure and how much is personal vanity.

Writing became her anchor, something deeper than appearance. She even revealed she’s currently working on a funny insider take on life in the film industry. She also added that after years of extreme diets and punishing routines that have damaged her digestion, she has finally learned to love her body. 

Towards the end, Tisca was asked if she could change one thing about herself and what advice she would give her younger self. Her answer was simple. She wished she had started writing earlier. Trusted that inner voice faster. Because once you find your voice, you stop asking for permission.

And in many ways, that is what Fabulous Over Forty feels like, too. Not a place to fix women or shrink them. Just a space that hands them the mic and says, 'This is yours now. Speak.'

Views expressed by the author are their own.