Actor Taapsee Pannu has never been the kind of actress to stay quiet about the things that matter and this week, she has spoken about something that far too many women in the film industry have experienced but rarely say out loud. Ageism. And the way it quietly, systematically, shuts women out of opportunities the moment they cross a certain birthday.

Speaking to Times Entertainment, Taapsee laid it out plainly. She entered the Hindi film industry in her mid-twenties, spent the first few years struggling to find decent roles, and by the time she had actually made her mark, she was 30. And that, apparently, was already too old. "They say you're not young enough to be featured in a rom-com," she recalled.