“Women Talking” unapologetically, with Pretti Singh

Pretti, being an experienced and successful professional in the film industry, had me fooled when I thought that the majority of her episode was going to be about filmmaking and Bollywood. To my pleasant surprise, it’s quite the opposite of that. I’d describe this episode as looking at the realities of India through the lens of a proud “fauji kid” who grew up in the protected and almost utopian cantonment zones all around the country. Pretti spent her childhood and adolescence in 11 different schools in 11 states throughout the country, where she lived in the truly secular environment of the army cantonments that greatly influenced her identity and beliefs. While she believes her background as an “army brat” to be one of her greatest strengths, she also reflects on the culture shock of moving to Mumbai, working in the film industry, and starting from the bottom. However, this added all the plot to her life, with 2 of her films getting shelved, having to spend the night in her broker’s office, failed relationships, and every other experience that seemed disastrous at the moment but ultimately brought her closer to understanding herself better. For everyone who knows Pretti professionally or personally: tune in because I’m sure you will learn something new about her. For those who don’t know her: it’s my pleasure to introduce you to this headstrong, intellectual, and empathetic feminist. Our conversation was about family, career, the societal pressure to get married, money, giving back, and spirituality. Stay tuned until the very end for movie/show recommendations, one of which inspired the title of this episode.