‘When it comes to women's lives, things have progressed, maybe not always in a linear way.’
Devina Gupta speaks to author and columnist Twinkle Khanna about the lives of women in 21st century India. Khanna’s column in the Times of India, Mrs Funnybones, captures the contradictions of being a modern Indian woman — one day praying to a cow, the next filing a tax return. It was turned into a book in 2015 that sold over 100,000 copies in its first year alone.
Born into a family of Bollywood royalty, Khanna initially followed her parents Dimple Kapadia and Rajesh Khanna into acting. However, despite appearing in dozens of films and receiving accolades for her performances, she considers herself to have been a ‘failed actress’.
After a short stint as an interior designer, she turned her hand to writing, and soon realised how much she could make people laugh.
As a prominent writer, however, Khanna has faced significant backlash - including for comments challenging both traditional roles within marriage and religious customs that label women impure during menstruation. Her outspoken views on gender norms and marital expectations have led to heated debate on social media, and made her the subject of widespread trolling.
So with the follow-up Mrs Funnybones book coming out over a decade later, she’s now asking the much larger question: what, if anything, has changed for Indian women in that time. The Interview brings you conversations with people shaping our world, from all over the world. The best interviews from the BBC. You can listen on the BBC World Service on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 0800 GMT. Or you can listen to The Interview as a podcast, out three times a week on BBC Sounds or wherever you get your podcasts.
Presenter: Devina Gupta Producers: Ben Cooper and Clare Williamson Editor: Justine Lang
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(Image: Twinkle Khanna: Credit: SUJIT JAISWAL/AFP via Getty Images)