Indian Films And Shows About Women Crime Bosses: ‘Akka’, ‘Aarya’, ‘Dabba Cartel’ & More

Written By: Entertainment Desk

Oct 27, 2026 16:29 IST ⓘ

Indian films and shows where women took charge of criminal empires.

A crime empire needs more than a gun and a memorable threat. Someone has to control the money, command loyalty and decide what happens when a trusted associate turns traitor. Indian films and streaming shows have given those decisions to some formidable women: mothers protecting families, matriarchs guarding fortunes and ruthless operators who make their living exploiting others. Their territories differ, but the authority is unmistakable. When these women enter the room, everyone knows whose orders count.

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The latest addition is ‘Akka’, arriving on Netflix on October 30, 2026. Written and directed by Dharmaraj Shetty, the YRF Entertainment series puts Keerthy Suresh and Radhika Apte at the centre of a gangster saga in which women hold power. Its arrival offers a timely reason to revisit screen stories where women built, inherited or seized criminal operations.

Here are 18 titles that put them in charge:

1. Akka - Keerthy Suresh as Bhavani

Pernuru has its own rules, and its women intend to decide who follows them. Keerthy Suresh’s Bhavani faces a challenge from Radhika Apte’s Rudra in this story of rival ambitions, family loyalties and a fiercely guarded legacy. Writer-director Dharmaraj Shetty makes his directorial debut with the series, whose ensemble includes Tanvi Azmi, Mahesh Manjrekar, Anshuman Pushkar and Monica Panwar. It premieres on Netflix on October 30, 2026. For now, the trailer establishes the struggle for control; who ultimately holds power remains for the series to reveal.

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2. Aarya - Sushmita Sen as Aarya Sareen

Aarya begins by trying to protect her children from the family business. Over time, protecting them means learning to run it. Sushmita Sen anchors this crime drama about a mother drawn into narcotics, betrayal and competing loyalties after her husband is attacked. Co-created by Ram Madhvani and Sandeep Modi, its first season was directed by Madhvani, Modi and Vinod Rawat and debuted on Disney+ Hotstar on June 19, 2020. Chandrachur Singh, Sikandar Kher, Namit Das and Ankur Bhatia feature in the ensemble. Adapted from the Dutch series ‘Penoza’, Aarya makes her growing authority – and its personal cost – the heart of the story.

3. Saas, Bahu Aur Flamingo - Dimple Kapadia as Savitri

Forget a household dispute over who gets the keys. This family has a drug empire to protect. Dimple Kapadia’s Savitri runs Rani Cooperative, whose respectable business conceals a sprawling illegal operation. Her daughter and daughters-in-law, played by Radhika Madan, Isha Talwar and Angira Dhar, are vital to that world. Created and directed by Homi Adajania, the series premiered on Disney+ Hotstar on May 5, 2023, with Deepak Dobriyal also in the cast. Adajania revealed that its earlier title was ‘Saas Bahu Aur Cocaine’; “Flamingo” became the name of its fictional trafficked substance. Family succession suddenly carries much deadlier stakes.

4. Dabba Cartel - Shabana Azmi and a dangerous collective

Lunch deliveries provide the perfect cover – until the contents become considerably more dangerous than anyone ordered. ‘Dabba Cartel’ follows five women whose tiffin venture becomes a drug-distribution operation, entangling their families with a pharmaceutical scandal. Shabana Azmi’s Sheila brings a concealed criminal history to a group played by Jyotika, Shalini Pandey, Nimisha Sajayan and Anjali Anand. Gajraj Rao, Sai Tamhankar and Jisshu Sengupta also star. Directed by Hitesh Bhatia, the series was created by Shibani Akhtar, Vishnu Menon, Gaurav Kapur and Akanksha Seda and premiered on Netflix on February 28, 2025. Its power lies in the women learning to operate together.

5. Delhi Crime Season 3 - Huma Qureshi as Badi Didi

The affectionate nickname makes the reality more disturbing. Huma Qureshi’s Meena, known as Badi Didi, controls a human-trafficking network that brings her into conflict with Shefali Shah’s DCP Vartika Chaturvedi and her team. Here, a woman’s command becomes the machinery through which other women are exploited. Directed and showrun by Tanuj Chopra, the third season premiered on Netflix on November 13, 2025. Rasika Dugal, Rajesh Tailang, Jaya Bhattacharya and Anuraag Arora return alongside Shefali Shah. Badi Didi qualifies as a crime boss even though the story follows the officers pursuing her: the operation they are dismantling answers to her.

6. Mardaani 3 - Mallika Prasad as Amma

“Amma” suggests protection. Mallika Prasad’s character turns that expectation into something chilling. The head of a trafficking racket, she becomes the formidable adversary facing Rani Mukerji’s Shivani Shivaji Roy when a kidnapping investigation exposes a much larger operation. Abhiraj Minawala directed the film, which released theatrically on January 30, 2026, with Janki Bodiwala and Prajesh Kashyap among the principal cast. The franchise’s first female main antagonist changes the confrontation without softening its brutality. In an interview, Mallika Prasad discussed the contrast between Amma’s attachment to her own child and the profit she extracts from others’ suffering.

7. Haseena Parkar - Shraddha Kapoor as Haseena

A famous surname opens doors, but it also makes escape difficult. Shraddha Kapoor plays Dawood Ibrahim’s sister in Apoorva Lakhia’s ‘Haseena Parkar’, which dramatises her journey from family life into alleged underworld influence. The narrative examines how bereavement, fear and her brother’s reputation shape the authority she comes to wield. Siddhanth Kapoor plays Dawood, while Ankur Bhatia plays her husband, Ibrahim Parkar. The film released on September 22, 2017. Its inclusion concerns the film’s depiction of Haseena’s power; that dramatisation should not be treated as a judicial finding establishing every allegation about the real woman.

8. Godmother - Shabana Azmi as Rambhi

Long before streaming discovered the criminal matriarch, Shabana Azmi’s Rambhi was navigating the connections between gang power, community loyalty and politics. After her husband’s killing, she inherits the world that consumed him and becomes a powerful player herself. Written and directed by Vinay Shukla, ‘Godmother’ released on September 3, 1999, with Milind Gunaji, Nirmal Pandey, Sharman Joshi and Raima Sen among the cast. The interesting question is what happens once Rambhi has power: the methods that secure her position begin shaping her son, forcing her to confront the consequences inside her own family.

9. Supari - Nandita Das as Mamta Sekhri

An apparently helpful conversation becomes a recruitment interview for murder. Nandita Das’s Mamta Sekhri offers indebted young men a route to easy money through contract killing, then tightens her control as they discover how addictive borrowed power can be. Padam Kumar directed ‘Supari’, released on June 20, 2003, with Uday Chopra, Purab Kohli, Rahul Dev and Akash Saigal, alongside Nauheed Cyrusi and Irrfan Khan. Mamta’s unsettling quality comes from combining reassurance with calculation. She understands what her recruits want, gives them access to it and makes leaving her operation considerably harder than joining.

10. Shabri - Isha Koppikar as Shabri

The journey from a Mumbai slum to gambling kingpin gives Isha Koppikar one of her most uncompromising roles. ‘Shabri’ follows an ordinary woman pushed into violence and the criminal world, eventually emerging as a threat to established underworld power. Written and directed by Lalit Marathe and produced by Ram Gopal Varma, the film also stars Raj Arjun, Pradeep Rawat and Zakir Hussain. It released on August 26, 2011, after spending roughly five years awaiting release. That troubled route to cinemas is an interesting footnote to a film whose heroine’s rise depends on learning how an existing criminal system works – and how to challenge it.

11. Fukrey - Richa Chadha as Bholi Punjaban

The boys have schemes. Bholi Punjaban has the leverage. Richa Chadha’s intimidating operator turns the youthful money-making plans of ‘Fukrey’ into a much riskier arrangement, with the friends discovering that borrowing from a don comes with conditions. Mrighdeep Singh Lamba directed the film, released on June 14, 2013, starring Pulkit Samrat, Varun Sharma, Ali Fazal and Manjot Singh, with Pankaj Tripathi also in the ensemble. Bholi became a returning force in the franchise because her authority works so well against the boys’ chaos: their confusion may be funny, but her threats are meant to be taken seriously.

12. Phas Gaye Re Obama - Neha Dhupia as Munni Madam

Even kidnappers have cash-flow problems in this recession comedy. Neha Dhupia’s ‘Munni Madam’, the boss of an all-women gang, occupies a memorable place in its criminal hierarchy. A financially struggling NRI is mistaken for a wealthy target, sending him through a world where different operators hope to profit from the same kidnapping. Written and directed by Subhash Kapoor, the film released on December 3, 2010, starring Rajat Kapoor, Sanjay Mishra, Manu Rishi Chadha and Amole Gupte alongside Dhupia. Munni’s command is an essential part of the joke: everyone may be short of money, but nobody intends to surrender their status.

13. Bandit Queen - Seema Biswas as Phoolan Devi

This entry takes the feature into considerably harsher territory. Shekhar Kapur’s ‘Bandit Queen’ dramatises Phoolan Devi’s experience of caste oppression and se**al violence, and her emergence as a dacoit leader. Seema Biswas plays Phoolan, with Nirmal Pandey, Manoj Bajpayee and Raghuvir Yadav among the cast. A 1994 film that screened at Cannes that year, it reached Indian cinemas on January 26, 1996. Her leadership belongs to the world of armed gangs in the ravines rather than an urban cartel. The film’s violence and suffering make it a very different account of criminal power from the more flamboyant gangster stories here.

14. Shibpur - Swastika Mukherjee as Mandira Biswas

A housewife’s grief becomes a challenge to an entire criminal order in this Bengali thriller. Swastika Mukherjee’s Mandira Biswas rises to become a feared mafia figure against the political and social turbulence of 1980s Shibpur. Directed by Arindam Bhattacharya, the film released on June 30, 2023, with Parambrata Chattopadhyay, Mamata Shankar, Rajatava Dutta and Kharaj Mukherjee in its ensemble. Mukherjee told Indulge that she learned to handle a pistol for the role. That physical transformation accompanies a larger one: Mandira’s loss and humiliation evolve into the determination to command the territory around her.

15. Darja - Anasuya Bharadwaj as Kanakam

Anasuya Bharadwaj’s Kanakam controls liquor and other illegal businesses in a port-area setting, making her the power confronting Sunil’s police officer Shiva Shankar. Saleem Malik directed this Telugu action drama, released on July 22, 2022, with Aqsa Khan, Shakalaka Shankar, Shafi and Aamani also featuring. Kanakam is an established criminal authority whose business and intimidation shape the conflict. During promotions, Anasuya spoke about performing action sequences in a saree for the role, an unusual practical detail behind a character designed to make opponents visibly afraid.

16. Mura - Maala Parvathi as Ramadevi

Watch who the apparent boss answers to. In Muhammad Musthafa’s Malayalam thriller ‘Mura’, Maala Parvathi’s Ramadevi occupies the position above Suraj Venjaramoodu’s Ani, whose criminal operations draw young men into a dangerous undertaking. Hridhu Haroon and Kani Kusruti are also part of the principal cast. The film released in Indian cinemas on November 8, 2024. Musthafa explained in an interview that placing a commanding woman above Ani was deliberate: even this experienced male operator respects her authority. Ramadevi makes the list because control does not always require the most screen time – or personally carrying out the orders.

17. James Bond - Sakshi Chaudhary as Bullet

This James Bond has a very different marital problem from anything involving 007. Allari Naresh plays a timid man who marries Sakshi Chaudhary’s Pooja, alias Bullet, unaware that she is a formidable gangster. Written and directed by Sai Kishore Macha, the Telugu action comedy released on July 24, 2015. The premise draws its comedy from the gap between the husband’s expectations and his wife’s criminal authority. In a pre-release interview, Sakshi described playing a strong, gritty female gangster; that reversal gives the familiar marriage comedy its central complication. The person he thinks needs protecting is already running a much tougher world.

18. Gangubai Kathiawadi - Alia Bhatt as Gangubai

Gangubai’s influence takes a different form from commanding an armed gang. Alia Bhatt plays a young woman sold into a brothel who becomes a powerful madam in Kamathipura, building underworld connections and a public voice for s*x workers. Sanjay Leela Bhansali directed the film, released in Indian cinemas on February 25, 2022, with Ajay Devgn, Vijay Raaz, Seema Pahwa and Shantanu Maheshwari in the cast. Her brothel authority and criminal-world connections place her within this feature, while her advocacy is equally important to the film. Its most compelling transformation is her insistence on being heard by the society that would prefer to look away.