Bharatiya Nari goes hip, courtesy Bollywood

The most poignant Indian film that portrayed the woman as the epitome of virtue and immeasurable patience is the iconic Mother India. Played by Nargis Dutt, the film follows the travails of her character from marriage that led her into the vicious cycle of poverty to being stranded alone with her children when her husband deserts her to losing a third child in a storm to raising the children on her own to fighting away a moneylender's advances to ultimately sacrificing her son in order to keep her word of order.

Indian mythology may be rife with nymphs, seductresses and brazen women, but only one stands to be instantly recallable. And that is Sita. Her dedication to her husband and her virtues have come in for praise over the ages. And Mother India is one other tribute to her ideals.

But let's face it. It's all a case of black and white. It may work in mythology. It may work on celluloid. But we know that life is just an endless array of grays. And Bollywood, over the last two decades, has opened its eyes to this fact.

It began to portray women with an honest tone. No more was it essential to maintain the 'she can do no wrong' facade. And as an improvement, what she dared to do was no longer being dubbed as wrong. Films began to take a look at all sides of the story. What a welcome relief!

Here's a look at some of the actresses and their roles that defined this change on the silver screen.

Text: Aparanjeetha Sambandan