Screenwriter Kanika Dhillon has reinvented the typical Bollywood heroine with her unapologetic female protagonists. Well-known for writing the characters Rumi (Taapsee Pannu) in Manmarziyaan (2018), Mukku (Sara Ali Khan) in Kedarnath (2018), Nanki (Kiara Advani) in Guilty (2020), Kanika Dhillon’s latest outing on Netflix was Haseen Dillruba (2021) where she earned top billing as a screenwriter. The character of Rani played by Taapsee Pannu has been much debated and dissected through the talking points of toxic love, feminism and what true liberation means for a woman in India today. Are feminist narratives only supposed to be about the economically empowered or the urban woman? Can we call the movement all-encompassing if it excludes a significant female population behind, asks Kanika Dhillon who has written the small-town girl with nuance and empathy. A significant thread that binds her female characters is how they challenge conventional morality. The flawed can also be a feminist; they are rebels with a cause. In this video, Kanika Dhillon talks about feminist transgression as a legitimate portrayal of subverting the burden of morality that has always judged women harshly. (Interviewed by Sanhati Banerjee; produced and video edited by Nang Tanvi)