Neha Maheshwri (MUMBAI MIRROR; July 30, 2026)

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.”
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Reprising her role as Beena in Mirzapur: The Movie, Rasika Dugal says the franchise has expanded the idea of strong women by showing their contradictions
Mohar Basu (MID-DAY; August 4, 2026)

Many have loved Beena Tripathi, Rasika Dugal’s character in Mirzapur, while others have criticised her manipulative ways. In Mirzapur: The Movie, the character will once again use her craftiness to survive in the male-dominated world of crime and power. According to Dugal, it’s this complexity that attracted her to the role.

“What drew me to Beena is that she refuses to fit into a neat box. She constantly adapts, negotiates power, makes difficult decisions, and surprises both the audience and herself. That makes her far more interesting to play than someone who is written to appear ‘strong’ in every scene.  Revisiting Beena in Mirzapur: The Movie has been rewarding because the writing gives audiences the opportunity to see her beyond binaries,” said the actor, who is joined by Pankaj Tripathi, Ali Fazal, and Shweta Tripathi, among others, in the Gurmmeet Singh-directed film.

Dugal feels that the franchise, through its different female characters, has challenged viewers’ expectations of how strong women should behave. She explained, “Strength, by itself, cannot be the only defining trait of a woman. Real women are contradictory. They can be vulnerable one moment and strategic the next; they can be compassionate and make morally questionable choices at the same time.”