Summary
“A Room Of One’s Own” is a formidable ending to the series; it has the drama and a sense of unity as the characters finally band together to fight injustices.
This recap of Netflix’s Bombay Begums season 1, episode 6, “A Room Of One’s Own” — the ending explained — contains significant spoilers.
Plenty happens in the final episode of season 1, bringing a full circle story to the proceedings. This has been a consistently thawed-out series.
“A Room Of One’s Own” opens with Rani and her husband rushing to the hospital to check Shai. She’s in critical care after the party she attended had copious amounts of drugs and alcohol. The scene then flits to Lily and her lover; he asks if she wants to go to Dubai with him. She’s absolutely over the moon. Afterward, Lily asks Rani for help to get her to Dubai — this is the final blackmail. Lily seems to have given up on having a factory due to not being able to remove her past.
Ayesha refuses to give up, and she stands firm
Episode 6 sees Ayesha continue to face extreme adversity. Still, she courageously stands firm — there was always an expectation in the story that she would buckle under pressure, but she keeps fighting in different ways.
Ayesha is told that it’s her word against Deepak’s. She’s warned that false allegations are serious, and Fatima tells her to consider withdrawing her complaint. Ayesha insists she is not going to withdraw her complaint, no matter what happens. She tells Fatima that she doesn’t care if she doesn’t believe her and it’s her choice.
Fatima tells Dapeek’s wife that she’s starting to think that there may be truth behind Ayesha’s claims. The wife tells her that “men will be men” and advises Fatima not to f*ck it up as she’s “on the rise”. The wife knows her husband has caused harm but wants it swept under the carpet anyway—another complicit person in the cogs.
Fatima speaks to another victim about Deepak. She tells Fatima that “she just doesn’t get it”. It’s slowly sinking in now for Fatima that Deepak is a sexual predator.
Ayesha wants the factory to be open for Lily
Lily may want to go to Dubai, but Ayesha does not want to give up on her dream.
Ayesha talks to Lily about her plans to move to Dubai. Lily states how she can start a new life in Dubai and be known as Laxmi, not Lily, and that Mumbai will never allow her to change. She calls it an opportunity. Ayesha is upset and walks away. She tells Ron that she wants the factory to open for Lily. Meanwhile, Lily son sees his father with another family and shouts after him, but Lily stops him from shouting. This brings an entirely new context to the situation; the audience is desperate for Lily to get the life she wants.
Rani’s greatest enemy was love
We learn about Rani’s emotional side in Bombay Begums season 1, episode 6 — she’s come across as firm and sometimes cold in some chapters, but she’s not that different to her peers, as revealed in the ending.
Rani tells her husband that she has to see Mahesh again from PRB due to work and leaves the hospital. Mahesh has claimed that processes have been broken, which puts Rani in an untenable position. Mahesh tells her that he has to follow the process and asks her to wait for it to blow over — another man throwing a woman under the rug. Rani believed Mahesh loved her, and she gets upset. Mahesh insists that he does love her, and they kiss passionately. Rani states she loves him more and walks away and tells him that her bank lawyers will respond to the notice. In the papers, it says, “Public Resource Bank slams Royal Bank CEO Rani Singh Irani: Questions legality of Ozonoh deal”. Rani sobs at it; she’s been betrayed. Fatima sees her crying and tries comforting her.
Rani is grateful that she did not allow this betrayal to destroy her marriage, giving Fatima a moment of clarity.
Shai has regrets
Shai and her stepmother Rani have struggled to bond in this series, but now they have a reason to talk.
In the hospital, Shai tells Rani that she wishes she never went to the party and that she has no idea what it’s like to have her heartbroken. Rani explains that she has had her heartbroken and will carry on and that it will happen again. Shai holds her mother’s hand.
Later in the episode, when Shai returns home, Rani explains how she was taken advantage of by her boss early in her career, but she wanted success at any cost, so she kept her mouth shut. Rani describes how horrible it was as she sobs. Shai hugs her; recent events have brought Rani and Shai closer together.
Rani tells Shai to forget Imran. Both women express their love for reach other. This was a sweet moment.
Fatima comes clean
The guilt of cheating taunts Fatima’s mind.
At a high school reunion party, Fatima’s husband Arijay tells her to be happy for the occasion. She downs her drink and frantically dances to show him up. When they get home, Fatima tells her husband she is tired of acting like a happy couple. Arijay tells Fatima that he loves her and that they will get through it. Fatima then reveals that she cheated on him with Jeff, the CEO of the Brexton Company. Arijay doesn’t take it seriously; Fatima tells him it happened more than once. Arijay states that he feels small, but Fatima states she did it for her and that she needed it as she felt hollow inside — she insists she didn’t do it to hurt him. Arijay walks off, upset.
He returns, and he wants to know the detail of the sex and tells her to stop being shy. Fatima slaps him and then goes into details of the sex and how good it was, but she can’t keep sleeping with Jeff as he went back to London. Arijay wonders if she’d have continued the affair, but Fatima starts giving him a b*****b — he abruptly stops her.
These scenes were tragic, showing a marriage that has ultimately broken apart due to bad family planning and career ambitions; Bombay Begums season 1, episode 6 shows nothing new. This marriage acts as a narrative case study.
Ayesha is not giving up, and Fatima has a change of heart
Deepak returns to work and thanks Fatima for dealing with the complaint so well. Fatima is in shock. Meanwhile, Ayesha asks a friend who is a close aid of a politician to help out Lily. The politician promises to look into it.
Fatima asks for more details from the other victim of Dapeek. The account is similar to Ayesha’s. Fatima sits down with Ayesha again to speak to her about it and apologises for not believing her. She explains how Dapeek was too close to home. Fatima feels guilty that she was right there while Dapeek did that to women; she wants to bring him down.
Rani and Fatima finally do the right thing
It took a while, but the ending of Bombay Begums season 1 shows the power of women coming together and highlighting the importance of empowerment.
Fatima and Rani decide to take action, realising that they are equally the problem. Rani rings the police and reports Dapeek for sexual assault. Meanwhile, Ayesha tells Ron that she doesn’t want to mislead him after finding a flat; she says her life is complicated — she admits she likes him but that she likes women as well and that she’s been seeing someone else (Chitra). Ayesha wants to find her own place and figure her life out. She apologises to Ron and hugs him. Ayesha is showing great maturity here and showing wise decision making, considering the circumstances.
A new phase
Lily gets her factory “Lily Metals” after help from Ayesha and the politician. As for Deepak, he is arrested for sexual assault. Rani tells the press that she has been sexually assaulted many times by her mentor. She asks for all women to come together and raise their voices. There’s a warmness in the story that the oppressed women came together eventually.
Amicable break
Fatima sits down with her husband. Arijay suggests that they part ways as he doesn’t feel the love from her. He recognises that she wants a more successful life and that he’s not the person she wants — he states he wants companionship. This conversation is honest; an amicable break.
The ending
Ayesha gets her own place, and she finally has her new break in life — the next chapter. Rani reconciles romantically with her husband, and they embrace emotionally before having sex. As the episode ends, Dapeek tells the police that Rani’s son ran over a sex worker’s son after paying for sex, and Rani has been paying Lily to keep her quiet. The series ends with the police heading to Rani’s house. Ironically, the ending of Bombay Begums season 1 ends on a cliffhanger where a man does everything he can to bring a woman down, despite sexual assault allegations against him.
Bombay Begums season 1, episode 6 is a formidable ending to the series; it has the drama and a sense of unity as the characters finally band together to fight injustices.
