Gautami Kapoor: Transition Star

 Gautami Kapoor was a TV staple until she was rescued from soap opera hell by Aryan Khan’s The Ba***ds of Bollywood this year, where she plays the role of superstar Ajay Talwar’s (Bobby Deol) picture-perfect wife. More recently, in De De Pyaar De 2, she is R Madhavan’s progressive wife Anju, who balks at being addressed as mummyji by the long-in-the-tooth Ajay Devgn, her daughter’s (Rakul Preet Singh) much older suitor.

Desi Christmas

Gurinder Chadha has been upturning colonial paradigms ever since she put a group of South Asian women on a bus to Blackpool in Bhaji on the Beach in 1993. It’s been 32 years and neither her spirit nor her resolve has dimmed. Chadha has just directed Christmas Karma, which is a reimagined version of Charles Dickens’ novel, A Christmas Carol. In Christmas Karma, Scrooge is Mr Sood (played by Kunal Nayyar), an immigrant from Uganda who believes money is the cure for everything. Chadha’s parents too were immigrants, from Kenya, and her views have always been informed by her colonial heritage, whether she is making Bend It Like Beckham (2002) or Viceroy’s House (2017). She is also deeply inspired by her Sikh faith, saying the message of love and humanity inspires Christmas Karma. And guess who is in the Christmas choir outside Sood’s house? Chadha’s daughter, Kumiko Kaur Chadha Berges.

 The Other Padukone

Anisha Padukone is the quieter of the Padukone siblings but no less gorgeous inside out. Golfer and CEO of The Live Love Laugh Foundation, she has helped turn the mental health advocacy group into a power­house over the past decade. Now she is all set to marry entrepreneur Rohan Acharya, great-grandson of director Bimal Roy and grandson of filmmaker Basu Bhattacharya.