The 10 strong ladies of Bollywood

Bollywood may be a big bad patriarchal society but it is not devoid of women who have shown strength and courage in times of adversity, in real life. Tellychakkar.com chronicles the deeds of ten such women from Bollywood. Preity Zinta – Preity Zinta showed that she was the only ‘man’ in Bollywood when she fearlessly told the court that she had received threats from the underworld while shooting for Chori Chori Chupke Chupke in 2000. "I was very scared and upset and confided in Nazim Rizvi, the producer of the film. He told me not to worry and that everything would be alright. He gave me his cell phone number and told me to call him if I have any further problem," Preity was quoted saying. The world applauded this feisty act of Preity especially when her other powerful colleagues like Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Rakesh Roshan, Sanjay Gupta, Mahesh Manjrekar among other turned hostile and retracted their earlier statements. Sushmita Sen – At the age of 25, Sushmita Sen decided to adopt a baby girl from an orphanage. But the archaic Indian laws didn’t see a single woman of 25 as socially acceptable to obtain the guardianship of the baby. A legal battle followed and Sushmita emerged triumphant with the High Court allowing her to adopt the baby who today is known as Renee. On 13 Jan, 2010 she adopted a three-month-old girl Alisah. Aishwarya Rai – Aishwarya displayed real guts when she refused to put up with her then abusive boyfriend Salman Khan. In a stunning move, the former Miss World went public about Salman Khan and his allegedly abusive nature. Aishwarya later told a leading daily “There were times when Salman got physical with me, luckily without leaving any marks. And I would go to work as if nothing had happened.” Full marks for Aishwarya for not towing the line of her then abusive boyfriend. Kangana Ranaut – Kangana Ranaut’s world almost came crashing when an unidentified man threw acid on her sister Rangoli’s face. But the brave girl didn’t let that bog her down. Getting her act together, Kangana ensured that her sister received the best medical attention. Post multiple skin grafting surgeries, Rangoli finally was ready to face the world courtesy the largesse of Kangana. Today Rangoli doubles up as Kangana’s manager. Sharmila Tagore – At a time when kissing and lovemaking were still depicted by means of two flowers meeting and bonfires blazing, Sharmila Tagore gave a rude cultural shock to the conservative Indian society by donning a sizzling one-piece bikini in 1967 for ‘An Evening in Paris’. She shed her inhibitions again for Filmfare magazine where she posed in a bikini for its cover. With this classy dare-bare, Sharmila literally redefined the boldness in Bollywood and paved way for others to follow her legacy. Mallika Sherawat – It is certainly not easy for a single woman to make it big in Bollywood especially when your own family forsakes you. Mallika Sherawat had nothing going right for her when she decided to pursue a career in Bollywood. Coming from a conservative Sikh family, her parents and husband were aghast at her decision and none supported her except her brother. Post a divorce and willful abandonment by her own family, Mallika shifted to Mumbai and began her struggle. And as they say, faith can move mountains, Mallika soon found a mentor in Mahesh Bhatt who gave her Murder and the rest as they say, is history. Zeenat Aman – The original ‘sex-bomb’ of Bollywood, Zeenat Aman was so brutally assaulted by her first husband Sanjay Khan that she lost vision in one of her eyes. Unfortunately, Zeenat faced physical beatings at the hands of her second husband Mazhar Khan too, which led to their divorce. Zeenat pieced her life together after her divorce and raised her two sons as a single mom with great determination. Today, the yesteryear actress is occasionally seen at social dos. Neena Gupta – It takes superhuman effort to give birth to a baby born out of wedlock and acknowledge it as your own especially in a conservative society like India. When debonair cricketer Viv Richards met the beautiful Neena Gupta, it was a classic case of East meets West. And overnight affair soon resulted in pregnancy. But defying conventional advice, Neena went ahead and delivered a baby girl and cared for her. The girl today goes by the name of Masaba and is a famous designer. Poonam Pandey – Just when everyone thought there was nothing novel when it came to stripping in Bollywood, in came Poonam Pandey with her own brand of boldness. First she went under the knife to enhance her twin assets and then came in exclusive videos of bathing, soaping and all other pampering activities. And when she said that she would strip if India wins the cricket world cup, the moral brigade went up in arms and threatened her with dire consequences. Fortunately or unfortunately, the stripping never happened but Poonam was back to uploading her ‘sexy’ videos on YouTube and Twitter. And we appreciate her for staying true to her brand and not cowering down to the demands of dimwits. Katrina Kaif – Katrina was just another pretty face when Kaizad Gustad launched her in Boom. She could barely speak in Hindi nor could she act well then for that matter. But the gutsy lady stuck to her guns. A few failures didn’t hamper her dream and soon enough with the helping hand of a certain Salman Khan, Katrina learnt the ways survival in Bollywood and rose to the top of her game. Today, she has not just learnt Hindi, but also polished off her acting and dancing skills well. With Ranbir by her side today, it can be safely said that she has really come a long way from her Boom days and that too within a span of just ten years.