Two recent Hindi streaming releases, Babita Singh Reporting and Gandhari, arrive within days of each other and share striking surface similarities. Both centre on female protagonists who begin from positions of perceived weakness or underestimation. Both weave in mythological references. Both place women in confrontations with larger systems of power and violence. Yet the films diverge sharply in intent, tone and execution, producing very different viewing experiences and critical responses.
Shared Starting Points
In Babita Singh Reporting, released on Amazon Prime Video in late August 2026, Nimisha Sajayan plays ASI Babita Singh, often called Baby. She is a desk-bound police officer who has internalised the need to please others—superiors, husband, in-laws. Suspended under questionable circumstances, she travels to her husband’s hometown and becomes drawn into the murder investigation of her childhood friend Bansi. What begins as an unofficial inquiry gradually forces her to confront the quiet constraints of her own life.
In Gandhari, which premiered on Netflix in early September 2026, Taapsee Pannu plays Bani, a mother whose young daughter is abducted at a busy railway station. A violent incident temporarily impairs her vision. She later adopts the appearance of blindness as she navigates a fictional town riddled with a child-trafficking network. The title directly references the Mahabharata figure who blindfolded herself, and the film layers folk and mythological motifs onto a mother’s desperate search and eventual confrontation with the traffickers.
Both stories position their central women as initially disadvantaged—Babita by social conditioning and institutional dismissal, Bani by trauma, temporary disability and the scale of the criminal network she faces. Both films use these starting points to chart a transformation.
Mythology as Backdrop and Symbol
Mythological echoes appear in both works. Babita Singh Reporting unfolds against the backdrop of Dussehra and the burning of Ravana effigies. There are visual allusions to goddess iconography, including a moment in which Babita stands before a set of arms typically associated with divine feminine power. These references remain understated, serving the film’s grounded atmosphere rather than driving the plot.
Gandhari makes its mythological connection more explicit. The title invokes the queen who chose blindness in solidarity with her husband, and the narrative reworks that idea into a mother’s strategic and symbolic use of impaired sight. The fictional town of Joypurra is populated with behrupiyas and local legends, and characters invoke a goddess figure. The mythological framing is louder and more central to the film’s identity.
Contrasting Intents
The deepest difference lies in what each film sets out to examine. Babita Singh Reporting, directed by Ambiecka Pandit and written by Amita Vyas, functions primarily as a character study and social observation. The murder investigation provides structure, but the real subject is the everyday operation of patriarchy—how it shapes women’s behaviour, how it is enforced through family expectations, professional hierarchies and self-policing, and how a woman might begin to reclaim agency. The film pays close attention to domestic details, emotional labour and the subtle ways Babita has learned to shrink herself. Its power comes from accumulation and recognition rather than dramatic escalation.
Gandhari, directed by Devashish Makhija and written and produced by Kanika Dhillon, operates in a more heightened register. It is an action-thriller built around a mother’s rage and determination. Child trafficking supplies the central crime, and the narrative moves toward confrontation and rescue. While it touches on parental guilt, female resilience and systemic exploitation, the emphasis remains on the external quest and the protagonist’s transformation into a force of retribution. The film prioritises momentum, set pieces and symbolic elevation over the quieter dissection of social roles.
Differences in Execution and Tone
These differing ambitions shape the films’ styles. Babita Singh Reporting favours a measured, observational approach. Sajayan’s performance is marked by restraint and internal tension; much of the drama resides in what is left unsaid or absorbed. The supporting characters and small-town setting feel specific rather than archetypal. The investigation itself is secondary to Babita’s evolving sense of self.
Gandhari is more expansive and stylised. Pannu’s performance is physically demanding and outwardly driven. The fictional setting allows for a blend of realism and heightened atmosphere, including elements of local folklore. Action sequences and a broader criminal conspiracy take precedence, and the film reaches for larger emotional and visual beats. Where Babita Singh Reporting stays close to the texture of ordinary life, Gandhari aims for mythic resonance within a contemporary thriller framework.
Critical and Audience Reception
The two films have elicited distinct responses. Babita Singh Reporting has been widely discussed for its nuanced portrayal of a woman navigating institutional and domestic constraints. Sajayan’s performance has drawn particular praise for its subtlety. Viewers and critics have noted the film’s success in linking a procedural framework to a deeper examination of gender roles and personal awakening, even when the mystery elements themselves are considered secondary or imperfectly resolved.
Gandhari has received more mixed reactions. Praise has focused on Pannu’s commitment and the film’s willingness to centre a mother’s fury. Criticism has often centred on coherence, tonal inconsistency and a sense that the film’s ambitions sometimes outpace its execution. Comparisons to earlier successful mother-and-child thrillers have been frequent, with some observers finding the newer film less controlled in its blending of realism, symbolism and action.
What the Comparison Reveals
The proximity of the two releases invites reflection on the range of stories currently being told about women under pressure. Both films reject the idea of the female protagonist as purely passive. Both insist that underestimated women can become agents of change. Yet one chooses the intimate scale of family, workplace and self-perception, while the other chooses the larger canvas of organised crime, physical transformation and mythic echoes.
Babita Singh Reporting suggests that the most pervasive forms of control are often the quietest, and that reclaiming agency can begin with small acts of refusal and investigation. Gandhari suggests that certain violations demand a more total and visible reckoning. Neither approach is inherently superior; they simply pursue different dramatic and thematic goals.
In the end, the similarities between the two films make their differences more instructive. Shared ingredients—an underestimated woman, mythological resonance, a confrontation with violence—can be assembled into works of markedly different intent and effect. One film uses its genre framework to examine the ordinary mechanics of gendered power. The other uses its genre framework to stage a heightened battle against an extreme form of exploitation. Both contribute to an expanding screen vocabulary for female-centred stories, even as they demonstrate how much depends on the specific questions a filmmaker chooses to ask.
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