A film by Anuradha Bansal
2025 | 90 minutes | Creative Documentary
‘A Good Wife’ is a deeply personal exploration of womanhood, marriage, and freedom within a Indian Marwari Hindu community. As I navigate questioning the establishment of marriage in my own setup, I confront the rigid ideals of a ‘virtuous wife’ imposed by family and tradition. Through intimate filmmaking, I challenge these expectations, exposing contradictions and seeking personal liberation. This film is my attempt to reclaim agency, question inherited beliefs, and spark dialogue on autonomy and identity.
When my name was changed on my wedding invitation under the pretext of astrology, I realized it was less about the stars and more about erasing my identity as a woman before marriage. I refused to comply—not even willing to change my last name. That resistance, along with my decision to become a filmmaker, placed me on the fringes of my deeply traditional Marwari community.
In a culture where divorce is rare and conformity is expected, a woman who questions marriage—especially while pursuing a creative, unconventional path—is often dismissed as being “too influenced by the outside world.” Though the flames of Sati have long been extinguished, the ideal of female sacrifice quietly burns on, with women still expected to bear the full weight of preserving a marriage.
This film is my way of pushing back. By turning the lens on my own family and their beliefs, I want to start a conversation about the expectations placed on women, and how tradition, marriage, and identity collide. I hope it encourages other women to ask: What have we inherited—and what do we want to keep?
Talk to Anuradha
A Good Wife was made to start a conversation, not end one. If this film resonated with you — if it touched something about your own inheritance, your own resistance, your own definition of “good” — Anuradha would like to hear from you.
This film is part of an ongoing impact campaign inviting women to share their own stories of navigating tradition, marriage, and identity.
