I have never had much respect for Bollywood stars, primarily because the industry they belong to has consistently been one of the most embarrassing in the world. The work is often puerile, almost always misogynist, and rarely accommodating of voices that do not belong to an incestuous, tight-knit circle. My antipathy towards these pampered, overpaid folk has increasingly felt justified though, in the face of their conscious unwillingness to engage with what is happening in India.

The women of Bollywood have, as usual, done more than their fair share. Like women everywhere, they continue to rescue our country from a mess made by its underwhelming men alone. Which is why this isn't to say that everyone has capitulated. There are a number of brave people who have been relentlessly on the side of good, using their fundamental right to dissent in order to draw attention to issues that are routinely being swept under government-funded carpets. They know who they are, and the rest of us will remember not just their integrity, but the personal battles they have fought against trolls who have spent all their waking hours trying to vilify them in public.