Will the Indian bombshell finally stop apologising for being sexy in 2025?

One of the most viral reels to emerge from Tyla’s recent performance in Mumbai wasn’t of the singer at all, but of seven Indian creators lip-syncing to ‘Push 2 Start’—confident, glamorous and unmistakably at home in their bodies. When an international entertainment publication reposted the clip, the comments section quickly filled with remarks like, “I didn’t know Indian women could look like this” and “These ones are from the hidden side of India”. One comment read, “It’s so sad they can’t dress this way in their own country”, until someone had to interject with a blunt correction—the concert was in India. What followed was a flood of anger and exhaustion from Indians tired of watching the West cling to a flattened, outdated idea of what Indian women look like.

My own Instagram feed is flooded with videos of Tamil diva Lara Raj serving baddie dance moves in a viral Gap campaign one day and posting thirst traps with bindis the next. She’s hot and she knows it. Raj is undeniably a bombshell, claiming a title that was not even designed for her.

The term ‘bombshell’—that cultural shorthand for the ultimate feminine sex symbol—has been primarily immortalised by white icons like Marilyn Monroe, Pamela Anderson and Scarlett Johansson. For decades, the bombshell identity was packaged exclusively through a Western lens: long, windblown, blonde hair, hourglass curves and just enough flesh to reflect whatever the era deemed acceptable. The bombshell’s ‘sexy’ became currency, coveted worldwide by both men and women.