Pooja Bhatt doesn’t draw out the mystery of her long absence from screen. In interviews, she has stood by her decision to step back from commercial films to focus on directing and producing. Still, somewhere, the actor in her has survived. Following a cameo appearance in last year’s Sadak 2, she’s now back in full form in Bombay Begums, Alankrita Shrivastava’s series about five ambitious women in Mumbai.
Pooja says she’d have been a fool not to do the show. “I think it’s the greatest decision I’ve taken in a long while,” she admits. “It’s rare that you can look at a body of work and feel a certain degree of contentment and pride. Bombay Begums, for me, is one such project.”
In the show, Pooja essays Rani, the charismatic CEO of ‘Royal Bank of India’. Rani’s personal life is in disarray: her stepdaughter, Shai (Aadhya Anand), hates her, while her husband, Naushad, is stuck in the past. At one point, Rani is invited to speak at a leadership summit. A journalist asks how she balances her high-profile career with being a mother. While her co-panelist dismisses the question, Rani says she’d like to take that, candidly detailing how she juggles home and work. The moment is echoed in a later scene, when Rani publicly calls out her mentor for sexually harassing her.
“Strangely, the two times when Rani really opens up is to a complete stranger,” Pooja reflects. “It’s something I could really relate to because I’ve always led my life like that. I’ve always aired my problems. I’ve never edited my thoughts — and I paid the price for it in my 30-year-long career. But I’ve been true to myself.”
The burden of personal honesty also weighs on Fatima (Sahana Goswami). A senior employee at the bank, Fatima is asked by Rani to fill in as the new Deputy MD. Fatima wants to take the job, but is dissuaded by her pregnancy and her crumbling marriage to Arijay (Vivek Gomber). “Fatima is at a crossroads,” Sahana details. “It’s about her realising the choices she has made where are they coming from? Does she really want to be a mother or is it because everyone says it’s the greatest joy in life?”
On the other end of the road stands Ayesha (Plabita Borthakur), a new recruit who’s figuring herself out. In the opening moments of the show, she’s fired by Fatima over a mistake. Her landlady throws her out, and she’s forced to crash at her ex’s. Ayesha is relatable to anyone new to the city: sleeping on fold-out sofas, sipping Old Monk and dragging her luggage from home to home.
Plabita, who’s faced similar challenges in her life, says, “What’s interesting here is that while the audience knows Ayesha is a survivor, she herself doesn’t. She’s dealing with her struggles one step at a time. She’s willing to stick it out, even if that means living out of suitcases and drifting from one place to another.”
Bombay Begums is streaming on Netflix