Her Kajal Won't Smudge
Activity Overview
Episode publication activity over the past year
Episodes
Mythili Prakash - Through my dance practice, I want to blur the lines between a Goddess on a pedestal and a human woman
16 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Shana is in conversation with renowned Bharatanatyam dancer, Mythili Prakash. Bharatanatyam is one of India’s oldest dance form...
Zara Suhail Mannan - We deserve to be free here as much as our male counterparts, this is my Pakistan too
09 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Zara Suhail Mannan is Shana’s guest on this week’s episode of Her Kajal Won’t Smudge. Zara studied English at Yale University. After...
Kirat Assi (Sweet Bobby) - What happened to me was not just catfishing, it was online entrapment
02 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Our guest this week is Kirat Assi, a popular radio personality who was catfished over a nine year period. What began as a long-distance friendship wit...
Tracy Vadakumchery - I want to give my clients permission to live outside of the confines of what it means to be a “good” Indian
26 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Shana is joined by Tracy Vadakumchery, who goes by the moniker “Bad Indian Therapist”. As an Indian-American therapist, Tracy wants us to ...
Ashfika Rahman - I want victims of abuse to confront the viewer so we can no longer look away
19 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Award winning visual artist and photographer Ashfika Rahman chronicles the stories of the marginalized who get written out of history. In this episode...
Princess Pea - My headgear is a tool, a headspace where women can share our experiences
12 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Anonymous visual artist, Princess Pea features this week on Her Kajal Won’t Smudge. Shana asks Princess Pea about her iconic headgear - a giant ...
Angela Saini - To say that there is fundamental difference between the minds of men and women just isn’t true
05 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Award-winning science journalist and author, Angela Saini joins Shana on this episode to discuss The Patriarchs, a book which asks the bold and import...
Jameela Jamil - The beauty and diet industries are teaching women to hate themselves for profit
26 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Trigger Warning: This episode contains mentions of self-harm and violence against women. Listener discretion is advised. Actress and activist J...
Suddaf Chaudry - You should always investigate what most people deem inconvenient
01 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
On this episode, Shana talks to investigative journalist, Suddaf Chaudry, about her reporting in South Asia and in war torn countries, her time in Afg...
Habiba Nowrose - When you have to fulfil someone else’s dream of the ideal woman, you tend to disregard what your inner voice is telling you to be
24 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This week, Shana is joined by photographer and artist, Habiba Nowrose. Habiba breaks down her photo series ‘Concealed’ and ‘Life of ...
Sobia Ameen - Men are lucky that all feminists are demanding is equality and equity, given everything we have been through
17 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Shana chats with model and Instagram creator, Sobia Ameen. Sobia shares how she ended up on the cover of Harper’s Bazaar India ...
Sabika Abbas Naqvi - Every time my pen raises itself to write a verse, I hope it is in favour of the oppressed
10 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This week, Shana is joined by the Indian Urdu poet and activist Sabika Abbas Naqvi. Sabika paints a picture of her home and neighbourhood in Lucknow, ...
Zarrar Kahn - In my film, I wanted to convey the real-life horrors of living as a woman in a patriarchal world
03 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of Her Kajal Won’t Smudge, Shana is in conversation with Pakistani-Canadian filmmaker Zarrar Kahn. Zarrar talks to Shana about h...
Meesha Shafi - The act of speaking up has liberated me, it's been like shedding dead skin
27 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
On this first episode of season 3 of Her Kajal Won’t Smudge, Shana is joined by the queen of Pakistani pop music – Meesha Shafi. In 2018, ...
Sadaf Saaz - “Women have a deep need and desire to be able to express themselves, to be empowered, to live a fulfilled life, reaching their potential”
02 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Shana is in conversation with Bangladeshi women’s rights activist and poet, Sadaf Saaz. Sadaf talks about her journey from the UK t...
Sarmad Khoosat - “The ideas of misogyny and patriarchy are a mindset, as opposed to a construct restricted to a gender”
25 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Shana speaks with award-winning actor, director and producer, Sarmad Khoosat, the first male guest on Her Kajal Won’t Smudge. ...
Kate Manne and Urna Chakrabarty - “Misogyny is the metaphorical police force of patriarchy”
18 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Shana is in conversation with Kate Manne (philosopher, associate professor at Cornell University and author of Down Girl and Entitled...
Surabhi Yadav - “Women At Leisure is a way to keep my mother’s memory alive”
11 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Shana talks to Surabhi Yadav, the creator of Women At Leisure, an Instagram account filled with 7 years of pictures and videos of wom...
Mira Malhotra - “If ads can sell you stuff by being witty and engaging, I can do the same with graphic design and feminist ideas”
04 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Shana is in conversation with visual artist, illustrator and graphic designer, Mira Malhotra. Mira runs Studio Kohl, a design studio ...
Amber Arifeen - “As an artist, I have the capacity to express things that most women can’t, issues that resonate with most desi women”
28 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Shana is in conversation with visual and performance artist, Amber Arifeen. Amber’s art looks at life through women’s eyes, givin...
Krantinaari of Wild Wild Women - “We don’t connect to the hip-hop that men create, so we make our own”
21 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Shana talks to Krantinaari, a hip-hop artist, activist and a founding member of India’s first female hip-hop collective, Wild Wild ...
Aurat March - “We needed the Aurat March, we needed a collective feminist platform to voice our issues on the streets”
14 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Shana is in conversation with two co-organisers of Pakistan’s women’s march, the Aurat March, who share their candid, very person...
Swineryy - “There is no place for me in the world I’ve built, it’s just the joke”
07 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Shana is in conversation with comedian and social media star, Swineryy, who went viral in 2018 when she posted a video of an animoji ...
Mariam Shafqat Goraya : “And my protest is obviously against misogyny. But [then] my personal anger is also about women who uphold these roles.”
26 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Today, Shana is in conversation with satirist Mariam Shafqat Goraya. Through her character Naik Parveen, Mariam takes aim at women who are the “foot...
Priyanka Paul: “I have so many marginalizations, that I’ve lost track”
19 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Shana is in conversation with Priyanka Paul, an illustrator, graphic designer, poet, and storyteller, who is also a Gucci Chime for C...
Sheema Kermani : "I will keep dancing no matter what. Who has the right to tell me not to dance?”
12 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Shana is in conversation with Sheema Kermani. You may know Sheema as the dancer in the hit Coke Studios video of Pasoori but, for S...
Leeza Mangaldas : "Women's pleasure has been systematically ignored for so long"
05 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Leeza Mangaldas is a sex educator with 2 million YouTube subscribers and Instagram followers. GQ has named Leeza one of the most influential young Ind...
Sabah Bano Malik: “ You basically stop women from being their own people so that they can be married off to someone and they decide what she'd become”
29 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Shana is in conversation with Sabah Bano Malik, a radio jockey and a founding member of a Pakistani comedians' collective called Aura...
Radhika Vaz: “Let’s take marriage and get rid of it”
22 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Shana is in conversation with comedian, actor and writer Radhika Vaz. We learn about Radhika’s journey to comedy and why she mines ...
Trailer
10 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Women from South Asia (and the global diaspora) are challenging patriarchal social norms and expectations by taking to the streets and using the bullh...