The anti-Muslim sentiment that engulfed India in the early 1990s, following the demolition of Ayodhya’s Babri Masjid by right-wing Hindu militants on 6 December 1992 and the subsequent Hindu-Muslim riots in Bombay, prompted Shyam Benegal to articulate his profound compassion for the Muslim minority through the medium of cinema. Shaken to the core, the secular-minded auteur made three critically acclaimed films – Mammo (1994), Sardari Begum (1996), and Zubeidaa (2001) – relating the soul-stirring tales of three Muslim women. The eponymous protagonist of each film is doubly marginalised as a Muslim and a woman. Although Benegal competently dramatises this double marginalisation, it is not the feature that renders these films significant. Rather, the significance of each film lies in its remarkable delineation of the strength of spirit that characterises its heroine. Mammo, Sardari Begum and Zubeidaa are women who strain against the stifling barriers set around them. They are rebels who dare to carve out their own destinies, for better or worse. Together, they remind us that Benegal, celebrated as the trailblazing father of parallel cinema, is a progressive feminist who unflinchingly prioritises agency-seeking women in his meaningful cinema, delving deep into their complex psyches with exemplary sensitivity. While the Bollywood industry is crowded with liberal male filmmakers winning plaudits for churning out women-centric classics, no one, in the opinion of a Benegal aficionado like me, matches Benegal in his clear-sighted exploration of the position of women in modern-day India.

Although the present chapter focuses on Zubeidaa, some mention must be made of Mammo and Sardari Begum, especially because both Mammo and Sardari Begum make brief appearances in Zubeidaa. Mammo revolves around Mehmooda Begum aka Mammo (Farida Jalal), a dynamic veil-clad Muslim widow, who suddenly arrives in Bombay from Pakistan to reside with Fayyazi (Surekha Sikri), her sister, and Riyaz (Amit Phalke), the adolescent grandson of Fayyazi. The film engagingly chronicles the day-to-day life of Mammo and her tireless attempts to extend her visa as a foreign national. Misfortune strikes when Mammo is unceremoniously deported to Pakistan by the police as she has overstayed her terms of visit.