Some 20 years ago, for no reason I can properly explain, I became fascinated by the motif of the rose. It appeared in my films. It became my company logo and my hair ornament of choice. My Instagram handle became Bombay.Rosie, and for a while, its display picture was the actor Helen, because she often played women called Rosie, who danced like a dream, aimed for the stars, and had the courage to break their hearts by desiring something more. In my head the rose, and a Rosie, stand for a quintessentially romantic view of life—by which I mean a philosophical search for meaning, for yourself. They symbolise women who do not conform to expectations of modesty, or modest expectations; who do not care to fit the paradigm, but create new ones, constantly expanding the limits on freedom. Unlimited girls, I call them.

Then, last week I got a thrilling message about the launch of a new platform named for a woman called Rosy—the PK Rosy Film Society. PK Rosy was the first woman actor of Malayalam cinema, appearing in a 1928 silent short, 'Vigathakumaran'. She had to flee Kerala, persecuted by dominant castes because she portrayed a Nair woman, when she was Dalit.