For decades, we have seen Bollywood actors depend heavily on characters such as a cop, a spy, or an Army officer to resurrect a dying career, and when thrill and gravity-defying action sequences are added to this mix, it makes for a perfect potboiler. One of the earliest and most iconic examples of this is Amitabh Bachchan, whose career was revived with Zanjeer in 1975. The film transformed Big B’s career from that of a “failed newcomer” to the phenomenon of the ‘Angry Young Man’.
Even superstars who came after him, including Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan, followed the same formula. When Salman faced a series of commercial failures between 2006 and 2008, he decided to return to the screen as the morally ambiguous cop Chulbul Pandey. He was not virtuous like Big B’s Vijay Khanna, but he had his own ways of holding up the law. Similarly, when Shah Rukh Khan saw back-to-back flops with Jab Harry Met Sejal and Zero, he went on a five-year-long hiatus, only to return as a spy in Pathaan. In the same vein, Hrithik Roshan and Ajay Devgn also found ways of staying relevant through their spy and cop franchises like War and Singham, respectively.
‘Why only men play larger-than-life cops in mainstream cinema?’
Slowly, this pattern has caught up with Bollywood’s leading ladies, particularly relatively senior actresses who are seeking a sure-shot way to make a strong impact on screen instead of being reduced to side characters in films led by the current crop of actors. For them, stepping into the uniform of a cop becomes a way of taking back control.
The latest example of this shift is Rani Mukerji, whose third instalment of her hit franchise Mardaani, in which she reprises her role as Senior Inspector Shivani Shivaji Roy, recently hit theatres.
The first film in the franchise, Mardaani, was released in 2014 — the same year Rani tied the knot with Aditya Chopra, who has also bankrolled the films under Yash Raj Films. Post marriage, Rani has been selective about her projects. During this period, she appeared in only a handful of films — Hichki, Bunty Aur Babli 2 and Mrs. Chatterjee vs Norway — but none emerged as major box office successes. Since 2014, however, it is the Mardaani franchise that has consistently delivered commercially, cementing her cop avatar and also keeping her relevant.
In an old PTI interview, Rani Mukerji explained how Mardaani was designed to break the mould of mainstream narratives. “Why are we never told about how courageous female cops are? Why is it always about men? That’s because in mainstream cinema, we’ve always seen those larger-than-life cops. So somewhere I think it is, at least, breaking that mould,” she said.
Rani Mukerji in a still from Mardaani.
Always wanted to be a cop: Raveena
Rani Mukerji’s contemporary Raveena Tandon has remained active in films and starred in multiple projects in recent years, but it was her hard-hitting performance in her OTT debut — Netflix’s whodunit Aranyak — that truly stood out and received heaps of praise from audiences and critics alike. In the show, she plays the role of an honest cop struggling to balance her personal and professional life. The series was among Netflix’s most-watched titles post-pandemic and emerged as a major hit.
In an old interaction with Filmfare, Raveena admitted that it was the strong writing and her bold character that made her sign Aranyak. “The character that I play is strong, fierce and talented. And this has always been my secret wish . . . if you read my interviews even from the ‘90s, I’ve always wanted to be a cop,” she said.
Raveena Tandon in a still from Aranyak.
Delhi Crime changed everything for me: Shefali Shah
Actor Shefali Shah, who played Akshay Kumar’s mother in 2005’s Waqt despite being three years younger to him, has often spoken about how she did not get her due in the film industry. Despite being part of iconic projects like Monsoon Wedding, Rangeela, Satya and Gandhi: My Father, she struggled for years to establish herself as a leading force. That changed when the Emmy Award-winning web series Delhi Crime came her way, in which she played DCP Vartika Chaturvedi. The role even earned Shah an International Emmy Award Best Actress nomination and has since been renewed for three seasons.
Shefali told SCREEN, “Delhi Crime changed everything for me. It changed the way people looked at me and the way people valued me. With Delhi Crime, they (filmmakers) realised they can put an entire show or a film on my shoulders or I can be the parallel lead. It really changed stuff.”
Shefali Shah in a still from Delhi Crime.
Asli Singham main hi hoon: Kajol
Kajol joined the ranks of Rani Mukerji and Raveena Tandon when she played a cop for the first time in Do Patti. The actor has featured in several projects in recent years — Tribhanga, Salaam Venky, Maa and Sarzameen — but it was her role as a stern cop in Kriti Sanon’s Do Patti that truly stood out. Speaking about the experience, Kajol admitted she loved playing a cop on screen. “When you wear a uniform onscreen, there’s a certain stature and kadakness that comes in your posture even though you know that you’re actor giving a shot and that the uniform isn’t actually yours. I loved playing a cop and I would love playing it again,” she said.
Kajol in a still from Do Patti.
When asked who the real Singham was between her and husband Ajay Devgn, she quipped, “Maine pehle bhi kahaan hai aur har stage pe kahaan hai ki asli Singham main hoon (I have said thismbefore, I am the real Singham).”
Nice to play powerful woman who can call the shots: Tabu
Tabu played the role of a cold-blooded cop in Drishyam. Known for making every character her own, Tabu portrayed both a relentless officer and a desperate mother with equal conviction in the film. In an old interview, Tabu admitted that she is mostly averse to violence but went along with it for the film. However, it was playing a strong woman cop that she truly enjoyed.
Tabu in a still from Drishyam.
“To play a cop is always exciting for any actor, because that uniform has something to it. It is always nice to play powerful people who can call the shots. Being a woman you can call the shots, get people picked up and beaten up and extract truth out of them, put them to task, get them behind bars,” she said, while lauding the ‘fearlessness’ of female cops.
Curated by Aisha Patel
