Last year, Rhea Chakraborty found herself cast in a terrifying role off-screen — one that she never asked for, and one that was forcibly thrust upon her within mere days of Sushant Singh Rajput’s death — the role of the perfect villain. Before she could even grieve her loss, she was stuck in a circus with no ringmaster, caught in a state vs state, party vs party, agency vs agency tussle and shredded in a misguided, voyeuristic trial by television. Her innocence or guilt became the ground for heated debates and legal battles between state and central agencies, between estranged political allies, between the police of different states, and between channels demonising or humanising her. Thrown into the Colosseum, she was a gladiator wrestling several beasts, as they ripped apart her reputation, loved-ones, and career, while the audience watched on.

But she didn’t break, and held her own through it all. Though she never asked for this ugly role (or to be called a gold-digger, a murderer, a drug peddler and a witch, for that matter), she retained her dignity amidst a barrage of insinuation and abuse. With her strength, resilience and prolonged restraint, she rose above it.

Showbiz tends to believe that there is no such thing as bad publicity — and that holds true in almost all cases. But the storm associated with Rhea was something far beyond celebrity gossip or Bigg Boss fights. It had the scope to smash a career in a field where public perception and fan following is key. And, in Bollywood as much as in other fields, the men will walk away from scandals — even legal cases and convictions — with their careers largely unharmed, but women are judged harsher and for longer. Is that legitimate? That is for the industry itself to mull over, along with many other lessons from the year gone by.

As we have emphasised earlier, a superficial reading of the word ‘desirable’ would have you think it is about physical appeal and glamour. But it’s not just that. The point is not about charm or physique or good looks alone. How we see it is that this is about how much you think about a person, about the mind space an individual occupies.

The mantle of Most Desirable is often associated with glamour, and the reigning stars with the blockbuster roles and the big endorsement deals — all things that this year’s winner saw herself lose, one by one, this year. “Mere sapne toh ab itne koso door hain... main sirf ek gehri saans lena chaati hoon, jahan chaar-paanch agencies mere peeche na padi ho,” she had said then, adding, “Sapne toh mere kabke pichad gaye, but I’ll fight!”

And she did fight. As Maya Angelou wrote in her poetic masterpiece, “You may shoot me with your words/ You may cut me with your eyes/ You may kill me with your hatefulness/ But still, like air, I’ll rise...”