Devi Ahilyabai

Director: Jayoo Patwardhan, Nachiket Patwardhan

Cast: Ganesh Yadav, Shabana Azmi, Bharti Jaffrey, Sadashiv Amrapurkar, Mallika Prasad

Born in Maharashtra in an unknown dhangar (shephard) family in the late 1720s, Ahilya became the daughter-in-law of Malharrao Holkar, the first Maratha Subhedar (Governor) of Malwa in Central India. Malharrao had already departed from the prevailing wisdom of the times by creating an independent financial account in the name of Gautambai, his wife and mother of Khanderao. Ahilya subsequently inherited this account and built her Empire of Charities all over the sub-continent and well beyond the boundaries of Malwa. Her other mother-in-law Harkubai, also contributed to her growth by transforming Ahilya from a simple village girl into a noble ruler with rare social and political acumen.