10 Strong Female Characters From Bollywood Films You Remember

Some of the strongest female characters in Bollywood are Shashi in English Vinglish, Piku in Piku, Meeta in Hasee Toh Phasee, Amrita in Thappad, Rosie in Guide, Gita in Swades, Alia Bhatt’s Pinky in Udta Punjab, Aisha in Wake Up Sid, Devki in Mom and Jaya in Laapataa Ladies. Each one makes her own choices and carries the story.

Hindi cinema has often been criticised for writing women as decoration or as someone the hero must rescue. Audiences have grown more aware of this, and the characters below show what happens when a film gives a woman real depth.

Quick facts: strong female characters in Bollywood

Character	Film (year)	Played by
Rosie	Guide (1965)	Waheeda Rehman
Gita	Swades (2004)	Gayatri Joshi
Aisha Banerjee	Wake Up Sid (2009)	Konkona Sen Sharma
Shashi Godbole	English Vinglish (2012)	Sridevi
Meeta Solanki	Hasee Toh Phasee (2014)	Parineeti Chopra
Piku Banerjee	Piku (2015)	Deepika Padukone
Kumari Pinky	Udta Punjab (2016)	Alia Bhatt
Devki Sabarwal	Mom (2017)	Sridevi
Amrita Sabharwal	Thappad (2020)	Taapsee Pannu
Jaya and Phool	Laapataa Ladies (2024)	Pratibha Ranta, Nitanshi Goel

1. Shashi from English Vinglish

In Gauri Shinde’s 2012 film, Sridevi plays Shashi Godbole, a Pune homemaker who runs a small sweets business and is mocked by her own family for her weak English. She quietly joins an English course in New York.

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The film is less about learning a language and more about a woman reclaiming her self-respect. Shashi does not shout or rebel. She simply decides her worth is not up to her family’s opinion.

2. Piku from Piku

Deepika Padukone plays Piku Banerjee, a Delhi architect who looks after her elderly, difficult father, played by Amitabh Bachchan, in Shoojit Sircar’s 2015 film. She runs her career, her home and her own decisions without fuss.

Piku is not written as a rebel or a party girl. She is responsible, short-tempered and real, and Padukone won the Filmfare Award for Best Actress for the role.

3. Meeta from Hasee Toh Phasee

Parineeti Chopra’s Dr Meeta Solanki in this 2014 romantic comedy, directed by Vinil Mathew, is a gifted, awkward scientist. She is not the usual shy or bubbly romcom heroine.

Her quirks are not played as cute. They are part of who she is, and her flaws make her more human than most leading ladies in the genre.

4. Amrita from Thappad

In Anubhav Sinha’s 2020 film, Taapsee Pannu plays Amrita, a homemaker whose husband slaps her in public at a party. Everyone around her tells her to forget it and move on.

She refuses. The single slap makes her see the many ways she has been treated as secondary in her marriage, and she files for divorce. The film is available on Amazon Prime Video.

5. Rosie from Guide

Vijay Anand’s Guide (1965), based on R. K. Narayan’s novel The Guide, gave Waheeda Rehman one of her most famous roles. Rosie is married to an older archaeologist, Marco, who neglects her and disapproves of her love of dance.

She leaves the marriage and becomes a successful dancer. For a Hindi film of the 1960s, a woman choosing her own path and career in this way was unusual.

6. Gita from Swades

In Ashutosh Gowariker’s Swades (2004), Gayatri Joshi plays Gita, who runs the local school in the village of Charanpur. Mohan, played by Shah Rukh Khan, is her childhood friend who returns from the US.

Gita is firm about her ideals. She stands her ground against those who doubt her, and she chooses to stay and work for her village rather than leave India.

7. Pinky from Udta Punjab

Alia Bhatt plays Kumari Pinky in Abhishek Chaubey’s 2016 film, a migrant worker from Bihar whose hockey dreams ended with her father’s death. She finds a packet of heroin, tries to sell it, and is held captive by drug peddlers who force her into drug use.

Despite the abuse, she keeps fighting to survive and finally escapes. Bhatt won the Filmfare Award for Best Actress for the role.

8. Aisha from Wake Up Sid

Konkona Sen Sharma plays Aisha Banerjee in Ayan Mukerji’s 2009 film, an aspiring writer who moves from Kolkata to Mumbai and builds her life on her own terms.

She finds a home, gets a job at a magazine and makes friends, but never depends on anyone. Her independence is what pushes Sid, the film’s aimless hero, to grow up.

9. Devki from Mom

In Ravi Udyawar’s Mom (2017), Sridevi plays Devki Sabarwal, a biology teacher whose stepdaughter Arya is attacked after a party. When the men are acquitted for lack of evidence, Devki sets out to make them pay.

Revenge stories in Hindi films are usually given to men. Sridevi won the National Film Award for Best Actress for this role, the first time the award was given posthumously in that category.

10. Jaya and Phool from Laapataa Ladies

Kiran Rao’s Laapataa Ladies (2024) follows two new brides who get swapped on a crowded train. Pratibha Ranta’s Jaya ends up at the wrong husband’s home, while Nitanshi Goel’s Phool is left alone at a railway station and builds a new life while searching for a way back. Both women grow more confident as the story moves on.

The film won 13 Filmfare Awards, including Best Film, and was India’s official entry for the Oscars.

For more film features, visit our Entertainment section, or read actor profiles in People.

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Frequently asked questions

Sources: Thappad, Wikipedia; Guide (film), Wikipedia; Mom (film), Wikipedia; Laapataa Ladies, Wikipedia.