The idea of a badass woman often moves in an unrealistic direction. Whenever a powerful woman’s character is introduced on television, she’s shown as a 360° rebel rather than mature. A strong woman is simply someone who isn’t afraid of being herself in all circumstances. She can be someone who fights for justice on men’s behalf or could be someone who loves and enjoys sex way more than a patriarchal and judgemental society expects her to. Doesn’t matter as long as she is herself.
Being and respecting herself is what a real-life badass woman does. But that’s not the image we see on television. Fortunately, platforms other than TV such as Netflix, YouTube, Hotstar, Amazon Prime and so on have emerged over the last few years that give empowering stories their cut. So if you’re looking for web series that portray women in a more relatable way, carry on the binge-watch culture with these beauties!
1. Four More Shots Please!
Four best friends with different lifestyles and ambitions come together to show each other their demons and help each other in fighting them. Damini is an ambitious journalist who never holds back from taking a stand. Anjana, who is a lawyer and a mother, is struggling with the idea of her ex-husband’s newfound love interest. Umang, a bisexual personal trainer loses control of her life after falling in love with an actress that she trains. And Siddhi, a sweet girl who has never embraced her body, gets in trouble for falling in love with it but with a little help.
Watch it here.
2. Unmarried
POPxo’s first ever webseries, Unmarried is about three friends dealing with society’s pressure of marriage at the age of 27. Kay, who is ambitious about her buisness in the fashion industry, is trying to convince her firm’s co-founder to not leave the company for a job. At the same time, she is helping her friend Abby to get over his break up with his fiancé. She is also dodging her father’s wish for her to get married. All for the life and empire she has created for herself. And even at her worst, she’s not one to give up.
Watch it here.
3. Made In Heaven
Zoya Akhtar sure knows how to give the country a reality check. Made In Heaven portrays the types of weddings and marriages India is seeing at the moment. Tara, an ambitious woman and Karan, her gay friend and co-founder of the wedding planning firm – Made In Heaven, leave no stone unturned in making these high profile weddings possible. The show is about ambitious a woman who did everything she could to own a buisness, even if it meant marrying someone she never loved or trusted in the first place.
The show shines light on women in more relatable way. Their fears, their desires, their tactics, everything. In fact, the fourth episode of Made In Heaven – Dowry & The Value Of A Woman, is a tribute to the women who walk out of their wedding to prove their point against dowry. The show simultaneously reads four storylines – the wedding couples’, Tara’s, Karan’s and Faisa’s and it’s encapturing.
Watch it here.
4. Delhi Crime
Based on the unfortunate case of Nirbhaya, Delhi Crime has captured a lot of attention for its representation of female officers. The command that Shefali Shah puts on her character, IPS officer Vartika Chaudhary convinces you to root for her. She calls a spade a spade and gets everyone in order. The show features both, the sweet and strict sides of her. Another lower ranking IPS officer Neeti played by Rasika Gujral effortlessly supports Vartika in the act. Not only were the female characters in the show strong but also the actresses who essayed them were talented enough to speak the lengths, just with their eyes and gestures.
Watch it here.
5. Girl In The City
A 21-year-old girl from Dehradun enters the madness of Mumbai with a lot of dreams. Girl In The City is a story of a girl next door whose distant parents always keep a check on her. She doesn’t have a stroke of very good luck and she cribs about her nagging boss all the time. That’s what makes this Mithila Palekar starrer web series so relatable.
Watch it here.
6. Pushpavalli
Sumukhi Suresh’s character Pushpavalli lives in her own empty bubble. She follows the man of her dreams from Bhopal to Bangalore. A man who thanks her once to give him company. She sees him as a perfect match for her and hence, she packs her bags from Bhopal and moves to the city he lives in. Oh, that sounds crazy, it’s just the beginning of Pushpavalli’s unpredictable life.
Watch it here.
7. Lust Stories
Directed in parts by four top-notch directors of Bollywood – Anurag Kashyap, Zoya Akhtar, Dibakar Banerjee and Karan Johar, Lust Stories gives everyone a reality check. Radhika Apte, Neha Dhupia, Manisha Koirala, Bhumi Pednaker and Kiara Advani’s characters in Lust Stories are weaved so realistically, it makes you wonder how many real-life stories have we missed. The ways these women find to explore their sexual desires is what makes the stories so relatable. Society doesn’t really approve of an affair with a younger man or someone you are working for, the use of sex toys, masturbating and so on but behind closed doors, reality doesn’t change, does it?
Watch it here.
8. The Good Vibes
Jonita and Lakshya’s lavish bungalow is always open for friends and parties. The bungalow they live in is considered to have ‘good vibes’ or at least Jonita and Lakshya believe so. However, the problems arise when a working wife fails to convince her non-working husband to stop partying and get working. Will they fix this mess or will they continue to partyyy? You’ll know as you watch the show.
Watch it here.
9. Ladies Room
Ladies Room won’t give you a morality lesson but does a great job in favour of gender equality. It’s about two best friends who are in their 20s, Dingo and Khanna. Each episode is set in a different restroom. The pro-feminism portrayal in the series is subtle and it’s always great to watch women leads in a comedy series. The two girls are living their lives much like any of us – drinking, living alone, working, handling the rent situation and so on. That’s what makes the series so relatable and fun to watch.
Watch it here.
10. Kirenjit Kaur: The Untold Story Of Sunny Leone
Everyone’s judging, no one’s listening, why? Sunny Leone’s biography answers all the interesting questions one might have in their mind about her. The show features details from Sunny’s life and the answer to why a gorgeous Punjaban unapologetically chose this bold way of life.
Watch it here.
11. The Test Case
The Test Case is Nimrat Kaur’s one-woman army show. The show tells the story of Captain Shikha Sharma, the first woman to get enrolled in Indian Army’s Special Forces unit and her struggle to make her presence felt amongst male soldiers. Her struggles include everything from tolerating sexist jokes to being sexually assaulted. You must not miss her thought-provoking journey.
Watch it here.
12. Dev DD
This series is a modern-day retelling of Devdas and revolves around a protagonist Devika DD as she goes through heartbreaks and highs. She is shown to be a liberated woman. Devika doesn’t care about public opinions, is comfortable with casual sex and gets high without thinking of it as something she shouldn’t do. In the series, she moves from Jaipur to Mumbai where she discovers a whole new era of her life. Trust me, her life keeps getting interesting with time.
Watch it here.
13. The Trip
The star cast of The Trip got everyone excited much before its release. Four friends, Shonali, Nazia, Sanjana and Ananya head on a trip with their own set of problems to solve. The girl-bonding shown in the series makes you want to go out with your buddies. The show is an easy-peezy treat for both the eyes and mind.
Watch it here.
14. The ‘Other’ Love Story
The ‘Other’ Love Story is a lesbian love story set in 1990s. The Bangalore girls fell in love when there was no WhatsApp and no cell phones. It’s a sweet story. The two speak to each other on the landline and write letters to each other. It’s the first Indian web series of its kind.
Watch it here.
Also Read: An AMAZING Web Series That ‘Society’ Does NOT Want You To Watch! and These Top Webseries On Hotstar Should Be Your Next Binge-Watch!
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