We The Women: India’s Best Women’s Festival Hits London in a Big Way
We The Women made its mark with the first-ever edition of India’s Best Women’s Festival, hosted at Riverside Studios in London. Spearheaded by award-winning journalist Barkha Dutt, the event was broadcast live to millions and brought together an incredible mix of voices, all celebrating what it means to advocate for women’s rights and inclusion today.
The day-long festival, held in partnership with Vedanta and the Anil Agarwal Foundation, honored some of the most influential individuals of 2025 who were each recognized as a Changemaker for their work in pushing forward women’s empowerment in India or throughout the diaspora.
What made the event truly stand out was how wide-ranging the lineup was. From “Digital Desis” to legendary pioneers like Sudha Murthy, the first woman engineer at Tata (who also happens to be Rishi Sunak’s mother-in-law), the festival didn’t stick to one kind of story or experience. Instead, it embraced a full spectrum and that was kind of the point.
Barkha Dutt did an incredible job moderating, guiding each conversation to highlight how different women’s experiences can be, not just across India, but globally. She made sure to include men in the conversation too, opening up space for dialogue on how women shape communities and how gender equity is everyone’s responsibility.
One of the standout interviews was with Sindhu Vee, comedian, actress, and all-around force. Sindhu, who is of Tamilian descent, spoke about growing up as a dark-skinned woman in India and how colorism affected her. She shared how she avoided the traditional route of marriage by earning a scholarship to study at Oxford, and later went on to complete a PhD at the University of Chicago. Even after checking all the “academic success” boxes, she found herself pulled toward stand-up comedy, a space where she now uses humor to speak truth, especially about being a brown woman in a world that still has a lot of catching up to do.
Sudha Murthy was another powerful voice. At 74, she’s done incredible things, engineer, author, linguist, and philanthropist. Her story of breaking into a male-dominated industry by writing a post card to Tata’s CEO (India’s largest auto manufacturer) is inspirational.
The final session brought Kareena Kapoor Khan to the stage, Bollywood royalty, but also a woman deeply committed to talking about women’s independence in film. In a really emotional moment, she opened up about a recent burglary at her home in Mumbai, an experience that left her shaken and raised questions about the safety of women, even those in high-profile spaces. Barkha didn’t shy away from asking tough questions, and Kareena didn’t shy away from answering them.
Across every interview, the conversations hit on so many of the issues women face: safety, violence, motherhood, workplace challenges, and social pressure. And every one of those conversations was handled with individuality, grace, honesty, and depth.
Another unforgettable moment came from Smriti Irani, Union Minister and former TV star, who spoke about rising from humble beginnings to political power. In conversation with Karan Johar, she shared what it means to build resilience when you’ve known real hunger and real struggle. Her words stuck with me, if you’ve never not known where your next meal is coming from, you don’t know resilience.
The list of speakers was stacked, Parv Kaye, Rashmika Mandanna, TS Anil, Akash Mehta, Ravi Chanda, Meera Syal, Priya Agarwal Hebbar, Karan Johar, Shashi Tharoor, Anoushka Shankar, Lt Col Himanshi Singh, and Subodh Gupta were just a few of the names. Each session brought something different to the table, whether it was about politics, parenting, corporate culture, or creative activism.
We The Women wasn’t just another panel event. It was a celebration of real people doing real work, people in the public eye using their platforms to make actual change. It made space for stories that are assumed to be known due to public perception but created a deeper foundation, and reminded us how diverse and incredible women are.