By Ranjan Das Gupta
The year 2020 has just ushered in rays of hopes. There is a silver lining in the distant silhouette that conveys volumes of benevolent feelings and inspirations to rectify earlier blunders and deliver the best. Here are four women (pictures clockwise) from varied fields who can contribute a lot to India in 2020.
Dimple Kapadia
The gorgeous auburn haired Dimple Kapadia has kept herself away from the limelight. But her romancing the arc lights and movie cameras continues. At sixty plus she makes a glorious comeback in Christopher Nolan’s Tenet along with Robert Pattinson. Dimple Kapadia looks beautiful, confident yet composed in Tenet. Handled by an efficient and sensitive director she has delivered an excellent performance in her first Hollywood film. Her expressive eyes and smile convey volumes. Along with late Vinod Khanna, Kapadia was more effective than Salman Khan in Dabangg 3. Her cameo in Brahmastra along with Amitabh Bachhan and Nagarjuna promises to showcase her hidden talents like never before.
Sangita Reddy
Sangita Reddy looks at the Jamuna with a piercing look. The gentle waves of the Jamuna remind her of the Blue Danube. The classic beauty, a health baroness now has an additional responsibility. As the national president of FICCI, she has a really difficult task in contributing to the nation’s economic development. Reddy has already suggested certain steps to fuse life into a moribund economy. No, she does not believe in giving bites for too many television channels or print media. Her transparent objective thoughts are channelised through a clear stream of reason. Romancing healthcare and fathoming economics which cannot but precede politics is her motto for 2020. No one understands better than her that a classless society is a utopian concept in our nation. The decade will see Reddy balancing healthcare with economic development, trying her best to ensure financial disparity is eliminated. The modern day Lady of Shallot is ready to embrace countless Sir Lancelots who are ready to join her in her move to establish a stable economy.
Mahua Moitra
The elegant and lovely Lok Sabha MP from Bengal has an illustrious academic and corporate career. Will Mahua Moitra step down from her high pedestal and care for the needy, poor? She has silenced her critics with her straight forward, bold protests against NRC, CAA in Parliament. Moitra was among the first to challenge the acts in the Supreme Court. At the Chandigarh Military Literary Festival, she blasted fascism in the garb of democracy. She was among the foremost to compel the central government not to invade privacy of an individual. Going by Pete Seger’s immortal number Where Have All The Flowers Gone, Moitra is at her altruistic best planting new flowers of independence and creativity in 2020. She is a political Mona Lisa who is a lively painting of giving a devil may care grin to privilege of the right and prestige of the left.
Sharmila Ray
This ethnic beauty is still a person who makes many males ogle at her. At 60, poet, painter and dancer Sharmila Ray is not the one to be saying, “Mirror mirror on the wall who is the handsomest of them all.”
The legendary Maqbul Fida Hussain designed the cover of her poetry book Down Salt Water in 2004 without even knowing her. He did it free of cost as he found Sharmila’s poems socially relevant. In her 25 years of journey as a poet, Ray has transcended barriers of pessimism, translated human values lyrically and focused on contemporary social issues with poignancy not found in the poetry of Lynda Ashok or Anjum Katyal. She also has proved to be a painter whose play with colors exudes a romantic classic touch. Though she does not dance any more she is an accomplished Bharat Natyam exponent who can tango well with trainer Tito Dey. Now Sharmila is experimenting with nonfiction and has represented India in Stuga and Vietnam International Poetry Festivals.
(The author is a freelance journalist)