Twinkle Khanna: Indian women’s aspirations have changed

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Interview – Twinkle Khanna: Indian Women’s Aspirations Have Changed

Host: BBC World Service (Interviewer: Tibina Gupta)
Guest: Twinkle Khanna (Indian author, columnist, and former actress)
Date: November 22, 2025
Episode Theme: Indian Women’s Aspirations, Gender Equality, Social Change, and Humor as Social Commentary

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Episode Overview

In this insightful episode, BBC World Service correspondent Tibina Gupta sits down with Twinkle Khanna in Mumbai. Born into Bollywood royalty, Khanna discusses her journey from acting to becoming a best-selling columnist and author known for her humor and bold takes on women’s issues. The conversation delves into how Indian women's aspirations have changed over the last decade, the persistent grip of patriarchy, and the role of humor in challenging societal norms. Khanna also offers personal anecdotes, reflects on intergenerational change, and shares her outlook on India’s future.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Change in Indian Women’s Aspirations (03:13, 04:19)

• Education and Aspirations:
  Khanna observes that more women, both rural and urban, are seeking education and have access to bank accounts, marking progress.
• Stagnant Social Structures:
  Despite rising aspirations and financial advancement, household chores and key decisions remain largely women’s responsibilities.
  • “I see that while the upper middle class woman is now dreaming of a wine tasting holiday in Italy and her helper is dreaming of an iPhone and branded makeup, they both have to still manage all the cooking of the house… that hasn't changed.” (Twinkle Khanna, 04:44)

2. Upbringing and Its Impact on Gender Views (05:38)

• Raised by a single, independent mother (actress Dimple Kapadia), Khanna saw women as “superior” rather than striving for equality.
• No direct conversation about feminism, but a strong precedent that women must rely on themselves.
• “Every woman has to be independent. And your self worth and value lies in being able to not need anybody. The only person you can rely on is yourself.” (Twinkle Khanna, 06:21)

3. Shifting Identity and Not Changing Surnames (07:11)

• Both Khanna sisters kept their family name upon marriage, not as activism, but natural assertion of self.
• “If I had to change, you know, my name, I changed my first name. It's Twinkle. I like Kanna. I would rather be known as something else.” (Twinkle Khanna, 07:29)

4. Encountering Patriarchy Later in Life (07:56)

• Khanna admits she didn't notice patriarchy’s impact until her 30s, due to her privileged, egalitarian upbringing.
• Realized industry double standards in film—male actors faced less scrutiny and received perks for the same behavior penalized in women.

5. Systemic Barriers and the Role of Conditioning (09:12)

• The “system” upholding gender inequality is pervasive, not just in India but worldwide.
• Even AI models inherit male-biased pay structures, further entrenching disparities.
• “It’s the system. And the system is run by men… once the system is completely dismantled, I think that's when change will come.” (Twinkle Khanna, 09:12)
• Women, even successful ones, juggle “unpaid” emotional and logistical labor at home, limiting true workforce participation.
• “I keep saying that behind every great man, there isn't a woman. She's beside him and she's telling him he's wrong all the time.” (Twinkle Khanna, 10:56)

6. Policy, Power, and Internal Guilt (11:33)

• Real societal change requires policy reform and increased female representation in power.
• Women are socially conditioned to micromanage and feel guilty for not fulfilling both home and work roles.
• Khanna discusses finally letting go of the guilt, asserting her purpose beyond motherhood.
• “I'm here. I have a purpose on this planet… there is a lot more that I want to do beyond that.” (Twinkle Khanna, 12:50)

7. Humor as a Disarming Social Critique (15:01)

• Khanna uses humor in her columns (“like an antibiotic syrup… with strawberry flavoring”) to make tough topics more palatable.
• Everyday absurdities—like relatives commenting on appearances at funerals—become fodder for her storytelling.
• “Once you laugh at something, you can't really look at it the same way again.” (Twinkle Khanna, 15:25)

8. Ageism and Appearance Standards (16:43)

• Indian women are judged more harshly on appearance and age than men.
• Pressure on upper-class women often leads to excessive cosmetic interventions—Khanna jokes about friends looking “frozen” (not the Disney movie).
• Her childhood experiences of being teased helped her deprioritize looks.
• “Most [Indian] men… grow up looking like the back of a dented bus and they continue in that manner… nothing changes for them.” (Twinkle Khanna, 17:16)

9. Dealing with Criticism, Trōlling, and Cancel Culture (18:46, 19:41)

• Khanna is unbothered by online attacks, focusing on her own preparation and execution rather than public reaction.
• “Have I prepared thoroughly…? The outcome is never in my hands so I don't worry about it.” (Twinkle Khanna, 19:21)
• She describes facing editorial censorship, especially on sensitive topics. Sometimes entire columns are edited or withheld.
• Humor allows her to say more than she could through direct critique, inserting “subversive messaging.”
• “You can get away by saying a lot of things if you make people laugh.” (Twinkle Khanna, 21:19)

10. Writing About Religion and Faith (21:43)

• Khanna addresses superstition and faith with humor, questioning the seriousness with which God and government are handled in India.
• Advocates for greater tolerance and a universal, empathetic outlook.
• “My world is enormous… I have empathy for tentacled creatures that breathe methane. And my world is the whole universe. So I've never understood this intolerance...” (Twinkle Khanna, 22:14)

11. Hopes for India's Future (22:45)

• Khanna envisions a secular, harmonious India for her children, shaped by her own upbringing straddling Hindu and Ismaili cultures.
• Shares a poignant story of a Hindu priest honoring her Ismaili grandmother at a Muslim graveyard.
• “I believe in unity, not uniformity. And I want that for the future.” (Twinkle Khanna, 23:47)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the persistent social expectations for women:
  “They now have different aspirations, but their life has not changed… they both have to still manage all the cooking of the house...” (Twinkle Khanna, 04:44)

• On humor and social critique:
  “Once you laugh at something, you can't really look at it the same way again.” (Twinkle Khanna, 15:25)

• On self-worth and independence:
  “Every woman has to be independent. And your self worth and value lies in being able to not need anybody.” (Twinkle Khanna, 06:21)

• On multitasking and guilt:
  “We've been tasked with this title of multitasker… Does our brain work that differently from a man's? …I've now stopped feeling guilty. I've shut that part of my brain down.” (Twinkle Khanna, 11:47)

• On female solidarity:
  “For her to climb, it's not him, it's other women are holding the ladder… It's always other women.” (Twinkle Khanna, 10:56)

• On handling criticism and controversy:
  “I don't worry about brick bats at all. You know, this is the life I've chosen. …I would have never done so many things in my life. I had been so worried about what people were saying.” (Twinkle Khanna, 19:14)

• On secular India:
  “I believe in unity, not uniformity. And I want that for the future.” (Twinkle Khanna, 23:47)

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Key Timestamps for Important Segments

• 03:13 / 04:19 – Discussion on changing aspirations, unchanging roles for women
• 05:38 – Khanna’s upbringing and its impact on her feminist outlook
• 07:11 – Keeping original surnames, perceived privilege
• 07:56 – First awareness of patriarchy in adulthood
• 09:12 – Systemic barriers, societal conditioning, internalized expectations
• 11:33 – Policy, power, and overcoming “guilt”
• 15:01 – Humor as a tool for social change, family anecdotes
• 16:43 – Ageism, beauty standards, personal resilience
• 18:46 – Managing fame, trolling, criticism, and cancel culture
• 21:43 – Writing about religion, faith, superstition with humor
• 22:45 – Envisioning a secular, inclusive India

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Conclusion

Twinkle Khanna provides an uncompromising, witty, and deeply personal look at what’s changed—and stubbornly what hasn’t—for Indian women. She explains how her unique upbringing cemented her commitment to independence, how humor softens yet sharpens social criticism, and why true progress requires dismantling ingrained systems—and learning to set down internalized guilt. Khanna’s hope for India remains one of unity in diversity, a message as relevant for global listeners as for local ones.

This episode is essential listening for anyone interested in gender, social change, and the evolving landscape of modern India.

Transcript

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[BBC World Service Host]

Hello and namaste. I'm BBC correspondent Tibina Gupta and this is the interview from the BBC World Service. The best conversations coming out of the BBC People shaping our world from all over the world.

[Ray Winstone]

I'm disappointed in him. I dealt, unfortunately. And then you go home and you see just attack a nursing home in Kiev. I said, what the hell was that all about?

[Interviewer]

I was still in an induced coma in hospital when the world was defining me. But I was still 15 years old.

[Twinkle Khanna]

And I did not know who I was.

[Ray Winstone]

I love singing and so my goal was always to do better and better at it.

[Interviewer]

Today we are spending trillions on war.

[Twinkle Khanna]

And peanuts on peace.

[BBC World Service Host]

For this interview, I met the author and columnist Twinkle Khanna in India's financial capital, Mumbai. Born into a family of Bollywood royalty, she followed her parents, Dimple Kapadia and Rajesh Khanna, into acting. However, despite appearing in dozens of films and receiving accolades for her performances, Twinkle calls herself a failed actress. After a short stint as an interior designer, she turned her hand to writing and soon realized how much she could make people laugh. Her column, Mrs. Funny Bones in the Times of India captures the contradictions of being a modern Indian woman. One day praying to a cow, the next filing a tax return. It was turned into a book in 2015 that sold over 100,000 copies in its first year alone. As a prominent writer, however, Khanna has faced significant backlash, including for comments challenging both traditional roles within marriage and religious customs that label women impure during menstruation. Her outspoken views on gender norms and marital expectations have led to heated debate on social media and made her the subject of widespread trolling. So with the follow up Mrs. Funny Bones book coming out over a decade later, she's now asking the much larger question, what, if anything, has changed for Indian women in that time?

[Twinkle Khanna]

When it comes to women's lives, things have progressed, maybe not always in a linear way. I think a lot more women are seeking education, both in rural and urban areas. A lot more women have bank accounts. They now have different aspirations, but their life has not changed. They have to still manage all the cooking of the house, even if you're going to work, that hasn't changed. Fathers, husbands, brothers making decisions, that hasn't changed. So for me, it's very interesting to see that while India is progressing in, you know, sort of financially and we would say in infrastructure, this part is sort of stagnant.

[BBC World Service Host]

Welcome to the interview from the BBC World Service with Twinkle Khanna.

[Interviewer]

Let's start about the book that you've written, Mrs. Funny Bones. It was in 2015 when the first one came out and now you're coming out with the second book, Mrs. Funny Bone Returns. In this league, 10 years have passed. How has India changed?

[Twinkle Khanna]

I think anybody who reads a few newspapers will tell you that at least when it comes to women's lives, things have progressed, maybe not always in a linear way. I think a lot more women are seeking education both in rural and urban areas. A lot more women have bank accounts. But I feel that the social structure of India in the last 10 years hasn't really changed, even though we've got social media. And what that's done is for somebody, even from the upper middle class to the lower middle class, they now have different aspirations, but their life has not changed. And I see that across all classes. I see that while the upper middle class woman is now dreaming of a wine tasting holiday in Italy and her helper is dreaming of an iPhone and branded makeup, they both have to still manage all the cooking of the house. Whether you're physically cooking or you're making menus or saying that you have to make this even if you're going to work, that hasn't changed. Fathers, husbands, brothers making decisions, that hasn't changed. So for me, it's very interesting to see that while India is progressing in, you know, sort of financially and we would say in infrastructure, this part is sort of stagnant.

[Interviewer]

In your latest book, you've written, men were not needed in your household while growing up. Now, how did that experience shape your view of what you see in the society and the gender dynamics that you talked about?

[Twinkle Khanna]

I'm probably one of those women that have taken a step back to equality. I always thought we were superior. I grew up with that notion. I grew up with a single mom. We were all women in the house and. And I had lived with my aunts and uncles and grandparents, but my mother was the earning member. I have this very distinct vision. You know, my sister and I used to have mattresses on the floor and we would share the room with my mother and my aunt and my mother would wake up at five every morning. She had three shifts to do. And she would put on this Jane Fonda tape and she would work out around us because as an actress, she also had to look good while doing all of this. So it was on mute. And she would work out around us. And I would look up at her and she was my superwoman. She was even wearing tights. But that, I think set a precedent for me that you have to be independent. Every woman has to be independent. And your self worth and value lies in being able to not need anybody. The only person you can rely on is yourself. And from there I had to come a little bit, you know, sort of to the back and say that, okay, it's okay to, you know, rely on a whole bunch of people, but you still have to be independent still. So we never really spoke about feminism. This word wasn't there, but it was very apparent that this was the way it was going to be.

[Interviewer]

And that has shaped your choices in your life as well.

[Twinkle Khanna]

Clearly. I think I've been married for about 25 odd years. So has my sister. And at that point of time, again, like I said, feminism was not in our lexicon. But we never changed our last name. We are the Kanna sisters. And I have a crazy, batty aunt who keeps saying that y' all are not Khanna sisters. Y' all are Pagal sisters. You know, why am. Yeah, Mad sisters. Why haven't you changed your name? And I said, if I had to change, you know, my name, I changed my first name. It's Twinkle. I like Kanna. I would rather be known as something else. So again, these are not things that we thought about. It just didn't occur to us that we had to change our last name.

[Interviewer]

And as you said that a lot of women in India would not probably have the same privilege. Isn't it a lot of them would have to bow down to patriarchy, even today.

[Twinkle Khanna]

But again, there is a large component of how you're raised. There's a large component of what the restrictions around you are. I was very fortunate. Again, I was very fortunate that I didn't even realize patriarchy existed till I was in my 30s. I had no clue because my worldview was shaped in such a way where I thought, we are equal, we are superior, we are everything. So every time I came across an incident which was blatant patriarchy, I brushed it away. For example, when I started working as a young actress, if the actor came late and nobody said a word to him, but I was fired, even If I was 15 minutes late or if he had a bigger room or, you know, he had his own hours, he was called much later than I was called. I just brushed away thinking, he's more successful, he's famous, he's senior. I didn't realize that it was only because he was a man and I was a woman. It took me a long time to figure that out because I had never seen that. I had never seen inequality within my home.

[Interviewer]

In your recent book, you've mentioned a line which resonated with me, which is about women run a relay race dressed in stilettos and shaping underwear, yet remain underpaid. Now, we're talking about educated women here. We're talking about working women in urban India. Why do you think they're still held back?

[Twinkle Khanna]

It's the system. And the system is run by men. In fact, I remember reading something about research that said that AI was also favoring white older men with more pay because all the data it got was already biased because white men were anyway paid more. So it kind of projected the fact that they would continue getting paid more. So even the data that's coming in was biased. And once the system is completely dismantled, I think that's when change will come. We are pushing. Everyone is pushing for it.

[Interviewer]

So what's the system? If you want to define it in the Indian context, what's the system are we talking about?

[Twinkle Khanna]

It's not just in the Indian context. I think it's across the world. It's a system made by men and has been running by men for, you know, hundreds of years. So it is going to take time for us to dismantle it.

[Interviewer]

India still has one of the lowest female participation in the labor force among the major economies, and we are a growing economy here. From your perspective, then what can be done to change that?

[Twinkle Khanna]

When I look at the life of a working woman, and this is coming from a personal experience. Just last month, we were at a shoot all month, and there were very long hours and my helper and me were having the same discussion. She said she had to get up at 4 to cook a meal for her son because she doesn't want him to eat outside food. And I was going on grumbling that even during this hectic shoot where I couldn't go to the bathroom for five hours, so I wasn't drinking any water, I still had to somehow manage to see, is everybody okay? Who's picking my daughter up from school? Has she already left for her football class? It still comes down to the woman. We may talk about equality, but it's very clear that even for someone like me, who is in a position where I could throw this away, there's conditioning, including my own, where I am doing these things. Aside from working till that balances out, how are women really going to step into the working field completely? I keep saying that behind every great man, there isn't a woman. She's beside him and she's telling him he's wrong all the time. And for her to climb, it's not him, it's other women are holding the ladder and they're holding it so that she can climb up. It's always other women. It's your mother, it's your sisters, it's your helper, all of them. It's not the men, they'll stand and clap on the side, but it's other women who hold it up for them.

[Interviewer]

But a lot of women are not even allowed to get out of their homes to work and have these experiences or even have a shot at balancing their lives. Does it require a policy change? Does it require more women to come out and say, listen, we need our space and reclaim that space in public.

[Twinkle Khanna]

Life, voices help, platforms help. But eventually policy and power will make a difference. And I think the way that we look at our lives, the way that we sort of put our biology aside, is going to make a dent. I think it's also so many things that we believe within ourselves. Only we can do this properly for some reason, because it's convenient. We've been tasked with this title of multitasker. What does it mean? Are we really multitaskers? Does our brain work that differently from a man's? But there is another. Another biological link. A man leaves his house, he does not think about his child. It doesn't occur to him, has my child had his lunch? Where is my child? Whereas a woman will be thinking every working woman lives with this. With this part, you're constantly guilty. You're guilty at work and you're guilty at home because you feel that you're not fulfilling either of your roles. I've now stopped feeling guilty. I've shut that part of my brain down. I don't feel guilty. I'm here. I have a purpose on this planet. And it is as much as I love being a mother, there is a lot more that I want to do beyond that. And like anybody else, regardless of my gender, I'm going to go out and do it.

[BBC World Service Host]

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Hello, it's Ray Winstone. I'm here to tell you about my podcast on BBC Radio 4 here, History's Toughest Heroes. I've got stories about the pioneers, the rebels, the outcasts who define tough.

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[BBC World Service Host]

For this episode of the interview, I'm speaking to the Indian author and columnist Twinkle Khanna. Our conversation took place in a sunlit corner of her office in Mumbai. It's a quiet space in an otherwise bustling city where bookshelves and blue walls led out to a balcony overlooking the Arabian Sea. Twinkle was very relaxed throughout our interview, wearing a denim shirt and jeans, and was exceptionally warm and friendly. We met on the day that election ballots were being counted in the eastern state of Bihar, so it was natural that our conversation often turned to politics. Bihar is one of India's poorest states that's known for high turnouts of women voters. We discussed whether this election would play out in favour of India's Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, and his ruling Hindu nationalist party, the bjp. He's been looking to regain his voter base after the BJP lost an outright majority in the last national elections. Modi, along with many other prominent figures of Indian politics, has featured in Twinkl's writing several times over the last decade, often with a particular focus on the rise of nationalism in India under his rule. Okay, let's return to my conversation with Twinkle Khanna.

[Interviewer]

The conditioning that you talked about is patriarchy, and you've explored it in various ways in your writing. But do you think it's easier when people are able to laugh when they read your column because of the humor in it that you can make them think about it and try and be that change that India needs.

[Twinkle Khanna]

I try and talk about it in two different ways. In fiction, I try and do it in a more serious way and a deeper, more reflective manner. In the column I believe that it's like an antibiotic syrup. You have to have some strawberry flavoring to make it more palatable. And that's what I do. And I also believe that once you laugh at something, you can't really look at it the same way again. So I try to interject as much humor as I can in quite serious subjects. And from patriarchy to feminism to inequality, financial inequality, I think there are two things. One, I'm very fortunate that stories follow me. And two, I find them wherever I go because absurd things keep happening and I for some reason keep recalling them. I mean, I just went to a funeral and I was sitting there quietly. There are people crying all around me. And this 80 year old auntie comes up to me and she says, you know, you have big hips and I have big boobs. I'm like, what Aunty, what are you saying? She's like, I told you this in Dubai and you said, auntie, you always criticize me. And I'm looking at her stunned. Wind at a funeral, how is this happening? But I know that I will take this and I will use it in a column or a book at some point and it'll reflect a sort of viewpoint where even in a funeral people are talking about appearances. There was another mother who was berating her 45 year old daughter about being plump at this funeral. So I think maybe now I'll do a funeral piece.

[Interviewer]

Well, look forward to reading that and seeing how you turn it around. But I think of all the gisms as you say it in your book as well. You've talked about age and older women are judged more harshly, you say, than men. And you have mentioned that you have stopped caring about it now as you turn older. How do you cope with that? Like what made you change and how do you reach that stage where you just don't care? It's fine, whoever you are, I can't.

[Twinkle Khanna]

Say that I don't care. I would have to be extremely enlightened and I'd have to do yoga five hours a day to say I don't care. I do care. But by and large, especially Indian men, most of them, they grow up looking like the back of a dented bus and they continue in that manner so nothing changes for them. Whereas Indian women are slightly more pleasing to the eye and they are conditioned to enhance that feature. So as you get older, you realize that your value is disappearing. At least the value that you felt you had and other people felt you had. And then I think for a lot of upper class women, they start emptying their bank account and filling their dermatologist. I had a friend who I would say she looked frozen and it wasn't the title of the Disney movie. She actually looked frozen and she thought that that was ageless. And I think at that point you have to make a decision that what is the next thing that you have that you are going to use to make yourself feel that you have value and you have worth. Someone like me, maybe because I grew up, you know, I was round like a teapot. In fact, people used to make fun of me. It wasn't like twinkle, twinkle little star. It was, you know, twinkle, twinkle little star How I wonder what you are. Up above the world so high like a teapot in the sky. Because I was drowned, it wasn't such a tragic thing. Don't feel so bad for me. I gave it back to them both with my fists and my tongue. But I think it changed the entire graph of my life. I never took this, you know, whole appearance bit seriously and it paid off.

[Interviewer]

You've always been in a limelight. I mean, be it your acting career, you've been also born in a family of superstars. You're married to another famous Indian actor of the Hindi cinema. You're published author in your own right, you have your own talk show. But there are also criticisms, there are also controversies. How do you deal with that pressure? How do you deal with trolling? I'm sure it impacts you, your family, your children. How do you explain it to them? How do you come back on track saying this is life.

[Twinkle Khanna]

And I go on, I don't worry about brick bats at all. You know, this is the life I've chosen. You have bouquets, you have brick bats. I am only concerned about have I prepared thoroughly for this and have I executed to the best of my ability. The outcome is never in my hands so I don't worry about it. I learned this very early and I learned it from my mother who always said this to me and it's true. This is the way I live my life. I would have never done so many things in my life. I had been so worried about what people were saying.

[Interviewer]

I want to talk about the challenges for writers, celebrities, artists in today's age. And there is a cancel culture that is there and especially when you're writing about subjects that could be quite sensitive, quite complex, do you think there is this freedom of expression as a writer that sometimes you might have to check again and again, how do you feel and how do you keep that freedom of expression as a writer in your column?

[Twinkle Khanna]

There are constraints and they happen, you know, especially with the column. There are times when I have to redo things. I remember once I wrote a column about a God man, and the paper said that we can't print it the way it's written. We need to edit out these bits and then we'll print it. And I said, you can't do that because this is what I want to say. Call it psychosomatic or melodramatic. After they didn't print it, my right arm froze. I couldn't really move it. And I was like, oh my God, what's happened to me? What's happened to me? So then I called a homeopath and I said, you know, this is what's happened to me. And I think it's because I'm under this pressure that I could not express myself. And he said, yes, yes, I'll give you some pills. And he opened his briefcase to give me these white pills. And there I saw this large picture of the same God man. And I was like, no, I don't think I want to take these pills. What if I get worse?

[BBC World Service Host]

So.

[Twinkle Khanna]

Oh, God. So two things. One, that, of course I feel the pressure. There are things you cannot say. You know, I've had the word lotus taken out from my column sometimes.

[Interviewer]

Why is that?

[Twinkle Khanna]

It just happens. Sometimes it does. I do have a lot more freedom than other people, primarily because I use humor. You can get away by saying a lot of things if you make people laugh. But, yeah, there have been times that I felt that I did not have enough room to say the things I did and. And I had to shift gears. But again, I've come back to a point where I've managed my way through that as well. I can manage to have some subversive messaging below. All the humor as well.

[Interviewer]

Well, it's interesting because that hasn't stopped you from writing about the topics that you do love in your upcoming book. You've said religion and superstition come in a buy one, get one free offer. I mean, it is a great chapter again, but how do you use humor and write about faith in India? Because religion is becoming quite a sensitive topic for a lot of people.

[Twinkle Khanna]

I don't know why this notion of God and government is taken so Seriously, I don't know why we don't have a more tolerant point of view. And I think my boundaries and borders are different because I grew up reading science fiction. So my world is enormous. I have empathy for tentacled creatures that breathe methane. And my world is the whole universe. So I've never understood this intolerance for somebody who's different or for somebody who comes from a different race, a different religion, a different caste. So I don't understand these people.

[Interviewer]

Now, Twinkle, you've sat on the sidelines of the Indian society, observing it, writing about it, and now talking about it with us as well. But what kind of India do you see and do you hope that your children should inherit?

[Twinkle Khanna]

My notion of India is a very secular country. I grew up in that manner. I grew up also with living in two different cultures. You know, my grandmother is Ismaili, so I grew up with that culture going to the Jamaat Khana. My father is Hindu, so I grew up going to temples. And I grew up with a lot of harmony between these two sort of factions. I think for me, one of the most beautiful things. My grandmother passed away. The Panditji from, you know, my father's.

[Interviewer]

House came the Hindu priest.

[Twinkle Khanna]

Priest. He came and he touched her feet and he was there in this Kabristan. And everybody let him do what he had to do.

[Interviewer]

So the Muslim graveyard and I mean, that's what we're talking about. And a Hindu priest walking in.

[Twinkle Khanna]

Yes.

[Interviewer]

Which in India's cultural context talks about secularism in this case.

[Twinkle Khanna]

Exactly. And it was really beautiful. And for me, that is the India that I would like to see going ahead for my children as well. I believe in unity, not uniformity. And I want that for the future.

[Interviewer]

Do you think we are going there?

[Twinkle Khanna]

I again, unlike the science fiction readers I used to read, I can't predict the future. One never knows.

[BBC World Service Host]

Thank you for listening to the interview from the BBC BBC World Service. You'll find more in depth conversations on the interview wherever you get your BBC podcasts, including episodes with the Palestinian American human rights lawyer Professor Noora Iraqad, author Sir Salman Rushdie, and former US Vice President Kamala Harris. Until the next time, namaste and bye for now.

[Twinkle Khanna]

Foreign.

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