Rasika Dugal has consistently portrayed women who resist easy definitions. From Beena Tripathi in Mirzapur and Safia in Manto to Neeti Singh in Delhi Crime, her characters inhabit the grey areas of human behaviour rather than fitting neatly into ideas of right and wrong. She believes audiences today are increasingly drawn to emotionally honest women over idealised ones.

Rasika, who will be seen reprising Beena Tripathi in Mirzapur: The Movie, says, “I’ve never consciously looked for morally ambiguous characters, but rather for characters that reflect the complexity of real people. Human beings are contradictory, inconsistent and constantly evolving. That’s what fascinates me as an actor. If I can understand why a character makes a particular choice, even if I personally disagree with it, I know there’s something worth exploring.”

The actress also sees a meaningful shift in the way women are being written on screen.

She says, “For a long time, female characters were expected to embody virtue, sacrifice or perfection. Today, women are being written as flawed, selfish, ambitious, vulnerable, manipulative, compassionate and courageous, often all at once. That’s a far more honest reflection of life. We don’t have to agree with every decision a character makes to empathise with her journey.”

The conversation, she feels, isn’t just about how women are written, but also about what audiences now value in a protagonist.

She says, “As actors, we’re often told to make characters ‘likeable’, but I think being interesting is far more important than being likeable. The people we meet in real life are rarely perfect. They surprise us, disappoint us, inspire us and frustrate us, often all at the same time. Audiences don’t want idealised women anymore; they want real women. They want to see people who make mistakes, carry regrets, grapple with their circumstances and continue moving forward despite their imperfections.”

Expanding the range of stories women get to inhabit remains one of the changes she hopes continues to gather momentum.

She shares, “If the stories I’ve been fortunate enough to be part of have contributed, even in a small way, to expanding the way women are represented on screen, I consider that a privilege. I hope we continue telling stories where women aren’t expected to symbolise perfection but are simply allowed to be fully human.”