Changemakers: Changemakers-Twenty Women Transforming Bollywood from Behind the Scenes

Book excerpt: Since Bollywood's earliest days, women have played a part in its success, both in front of the camera and away from it. It has taken more than half a century for women to assert their presence in significant numbers in Bollywood. Today, Hindi cinema relies on a record number of women who work tirelessly, sometimes invisibly, to keep the world's largest dream factory buzzing. This book tells the story of twenty incredible women, many with no prior 'connections' in the industry, who have carved successful careers despite significant challenges. They often work away from the public gaze-as studio heads, producers, directors, make-up artists, stylists, script writers, lyricists, editors, choreographers, stunt artists, set designers, and in the many other jobs that support the making of a movie. These women deserve to be applauded and their journeys acknowledged, as they succeed in transforming Bollywood and in the process, create a new India.