Film ‘Miss India’ .... Story of an Ambitious Young Woman : Vanam Jwala Narasimha Rao

 Film ‘Miss India’ 

Story of an Ambitious Young Woman

Vanam Jwala Narasimha Rao

(September 24, 2025)

              In a random Netflix search on my TV, I and my wife came across the Film Miss India, which was made available to audiences directly on it, five year ago in 2020, bypassing the traditional theatrical release. The key role was played by Keerthy Suresh as Manasa Samyuktha, an ambitious young woman from a middle-class Telugu family, who refuses to be defined or restricted by conventions, cultural barriers, or male-dominated industries, and moves to US for higher studies and becomes an entrepreneur. Keerthy Suresh excelled in this women empowerment role emphasizing the importance of identity, roots, and confidence through her ‘MIS INDIA brand Tea.’

Watching Miss India in four thematic parts, the journey begins in the early portrayal of Manasa Samyuktha’s childhood and youth in India. Presence of Keerthy’s grandfather (Rajendra Prasad) an Ayurvedic Doctor, who recognizes in her a spark of self-belief, sows the seed of her inspiration. Manasa Samyuktha decided to pursue higher studies in US with a yet to define plan of action. In Samyuktha’s early American life, education, exposure, and ambition converge. Her brother (Kamal Kamaraju) represents the protective rigid mindset of family responsibility. Despite discouragement from brother and mother, (Nadhiya) and relationships started complicating her path Samyuktha proceeds to crystallize her dream of making Indian Tea a Global Brand.

Moving further, the stakes rise as Samyuktha steps into the world of business, together with entry of betrayal, that marks a turning point, through a friend Vijay Anand (Naveen Chandra), unable to reconcile love with ambition, which reflects a mindset uncomfortable with women pursuing larger-than-life goals distances himself. Vijay a well-meaning employer gives her the initial job, the first structured professional platform where she can test her abilities and gain exposure to the corporate world. Later he proposes marriage. This introduces the tension between societal expectations and personal aspirations.

Samyuktha’s response, prioritizing her dream over personal attachment, underscores the film’s central theme that, women must sometimes negotiate or delay conventional roles to pursue unconventional ambitions. The narrative treats him respectfully; he is not vilified or cast as a villain, but his character illustrates the subtle pressures women face when career and societal norms intersect. By including this episode, the film emphasizes agency and choice and reinforces the broader message that, support is valuable, but true empowerment comes from making decisions that align with one’s own goals, even in the face of emotional or social pressures.

As Samyuktha’s entrepreneurial journey progresses, she meets Kailash Sivakumar (Jagapathi Babu) the coffee baron, who embodies deep-rooted cynicism of a male-dominated corporate world toward female entrepreneurs. Declining her request to provide space in his business places selling Tea, Kailash with a cruel posture offers a thousand dollars to Samyuktha, which she accepts as a challenge, and with her clever management she turns it into double, not merely as profit but as a demonstration of her vision, business acumen, and unyielding determination, as a narrative device to highlight her grit.

Vikram’s (Sumant Shailendra) role as a large-scale investor whose capital comes with scrutiny and subtle dominance, introduces a more complex layer of ambition and dependence. By offering three crores, he embodies both possibility and restraint, symbolically ‘sitting on Samyuktha’s head.’ His presence also brings into focus the mechanisms of modern business. Samyuktha’s consent to operate on debt-based tea pocket supplies, despite being warned by Vikram, illustrates her careful balance of risk and control. As warned by Vikram her business broke.

Eventually, these threads tie hooked on to a culmination where Samyuktha, through perseverance, turns challenge into triumph. The absence of her friend Vikram becomes a reminder that relationships strained by ambition need not define one’s journey. Her confrontation with the coffee magnate is staged less as a personal vendetta and more as a symbolic clash between old monopolies and new possibilities. And the voice of her late grandfather lingers as a moral anchor, proving prophetic in her success.

One of the film’s strongest affirmations comes from the huge response to Samyuktha’s appeal for investment. The overwhelming support she receives from a diverse audience underscores the collective desire for change and the resonance of her vision. It is a cinematic reinforcement of the principle that innovation and courage attract backing when aligned with purpose and authenticity. This also reflects a broader societal readiness to support women-led ventures. Her brother comes to understand her vision, not as rebellion but as rightful assertion.

The culmination of these curves conveys a nuanced message. Samyuktha’s triumph, achieved through strategic thinking, perseverance, and unwavering confidence, exemplifies the power of grit. Yet, the narrative does not shy away from her failures, setbacks, or moments of doubt. These are woven seamlessly to keep her human and relatable. Her losses, betrayals, and pressures mirror the challenges faced by many entrepreneurs, particularly women who must negotiate societal expectations alongside business hurdles. The film’s broader message, therefore, is one of balanced realism: success is possible, but it is never effortless; ambition meets resistance, and even victories are earned through resilience and careful negotiation of both human and structural obstacles.

Ultimately, Miss India positions Samyuktha’s journey as a metaphor for female empowerment in contemporary society: a testament to the enduring value of courage, the importance of leveraging every opportunity, and the recognition that triumph is inseparable from the trials that precede it. The male characters, whether supportive, obstructive, or ambivalent, are embedded into this narrative as societal reflections rather than adversaries, ensuring the story remains thematically coherent and motivational without descending into personal conflict or moral caricature.

Until Samyuktha faces betrayal, and before the film shifted noticeably toward conventional Telugu Cinema tropes, Miss India is directed with a distinct sensibility that maintained a narrative rhythm balancing aspiration, strategy, and subtle social commentary, that sets it apart from routine commercial fare. The screenplay focus on her determination, entrepreneurial thinking, and emotional dynamics was quite exceptional. Characters are portrayed with nuance, reflecting societal attitudes without resorting to caricature or melodrama.

What followed then was, climactic sequences, including confrontations with the antagonist, dramatic demonstrations of business triumph, and the resolution of romantic or emotional subplots, heightened dialogues, overt dramatization, and neatly packaged moral lessons. While this makes the ending emotionally satisfying to a mass audience, it departs from the measured, character-driven style till then. This stylistic transition despite it underscores a tension often present in Telugu cinema, it does not diminish Samyuktha’s journey or the core message of empowerment. Yet, it does flatten some of the narrative’s earlier sophistication, giving the final sequences a more predictable and routine feel.

The conclusion however, instead of destroying, repositions the men in her life, within the theme, each, in their own way. By weaving together themes: inspiration, conflict of family values, betrayal and opposition, and eventual assertion, the film attempts to deliver its core idea that, a woman’s dream, when pursued with courage, can transform not just her own destiny but also challenge the assumptions of those around her.

Despite its theme of women's empowerment and entrepreneurship, Miss India produced by Mahesh S Koneru and directed by Narendra Nath (Screenplay and story too), struggled to resonate with a broad audience, which likely contributed to its lack of commercial success. Dani Sanchez-Lopez and Sujith Vaassudev handled the cinematography. Box Office collections’ Figures are unavailable.

Endurance defines greatness more than brilliance. Ultimately, it is not talent but tireless, quiet, continuous, and unseen effort, that sustains success. That is Grit, as conceived by Angela Lee Duckworth. According to Angela, a distinguished American Academic and Psychologist, success is not a gift granted by talent, luck, or birth, but a deliberate pursuit fueled by deep interest, honed through tireless practice, elevated by a strong sense of purpose, and sustained by unwavering hope. Director Narendra Nath truthfully presented this in Keerthy Suresh.