There’s something quietly radical about a film that centers a 65-year-old widow launching a startup with her group of homemaker friends. No incubators. No accelerators. No jargon. Just instinct, lived experience, and a refusal to accept that their time has passed.

Auntypreneur, an upcoming Gujarati-language film, taps into a kind of founder energy we rarely acknowledge in India — the resilience of middle-aged women who’ve spent decades managing homes, families, and finances, but have never been called “entrepreneurs.”

And that’s exactly why I’m excited to watch it.

It’s not just the premise. It’s the intent.

In a startup culture dominated by youth, blitzscaling, and pitch decks, Auntypreneur offers a cultural reset — one where ambition arrives late, quietly, but just as powerfully.

https://youtu.be/Y254cTYFVO0?si=XjTpuCz4a1Z2xL3R

Reframing the Archetype of a Founder

The protagonist of Auntypreneur is Jasuben, a 65-year-old widow who decides to start a business with her close-knit group of homemaker friends. There are no venture capital pitches, no disruption models, no accelerator backstories. Instead, there’s lived experience, resourcefulness, and an instinctive understanding of value — the kind that isn’t taught, but earned through decades of managing households with surgical precision.

In India, where the startup narrative still largely revolves around youthful aggression and scale-at-all-costs ambition, this film inserts a different kind of founder into the cultural vocabulary — one who is older, female, and rooted in middle-class realism. It’s a portrayal that reframes entrepreneurship not as a career choice, but as a human need for agency and reinvention.

The Team Behind the Film Echoes the Story’s Spirit

Auntypreneur is helmed by Pratik Rajen Kothari, a young filmmaker making his Gujarati feature debut. It is produced by Deepali and Aryan Mhaiskar, a mother-son duo whose own collaboration across generations mirrors the film’s central theme. The project is presented by Abhishek Jain, a pivotal figure in modern Gujarati cinema, known for his work in bringing local stories to wider audiences.

There’s a meta-layer here that cannot be ignored. The film isn’t just about late-blooming entrepreneurship — it is, in many ways, a startup in itself. From the risk in storytelling to the choice of a largely regional setting and language, the film’s creators are practicing the very courage they aim to portray on screen.

A Lead Performance Anchored in Quiet Defiance

Supriya Pathak, long admired for her work across genres and languages, leads the cast as Jasuben. Her performance in the trailer alone hints at a role grounded in restraint and emotional authority. She doesn’t announce her intentions — she negotiates them. Her quiet command, dry wit, and firm resolve offer a believable portrayal of a woman stepping into her own, not with arrogance, but with earned certainty.

She is joined by a supporting cast of acclaimed regional actors including Brinda Trivedi, Kaushambi Bhatt, and Yukti Randeria. Their ensemble energy is less about comic relief or tokenism and more about collective transformation — women building not just a venture, but a version of themselves that had been long suppressed.

A Marketing Campaign that Mirrors Early-Stage Hustle

What sets Auntypreneur apart from typical film launches is the nature of its promotional campaign. The producers have bypassed conventional media routes and adopted a grassroots, community-first approach that resembles how early-stage founders market their products.

From local meetups to street activations in Ahmedabad, to real-life panels like “Reel Meets Real” featuring Supriya Pathak in conversation with actual women entrepreneurs like Pabiben Rabari, the film’s outreach strategy has been intimate and deliberate. These are not just promotional events — they are dialogue starters.

https://x.com/ama_ahmedabad/status/1913980028133707976

On social media, the messaging is sharp and culturally tuned. The tagline — “Why should boys have all the funds?” — is both a provocation and a positioning statement. It places the film directly within India’s ongoing conversation around funding disparities, gender bias, and the shifting contours of leadership.

Another standout piece features real-life women entrepreneurs — from founders to changemakers — sharing the spotlight and spirit of Auntypreneur. It’s not just a shoutout; it’s a celebration of women who’ve already turned ideas into impact, blurring the line between reel and real.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DIqTQYFMYgE/

Why This Film Matters Now

Auntypreneur arrives at a time when India’s founder landscape is undergoing both expansion and reckoning. While unicorn counts rise and venture capital flows deepen, questions around inclusivity, representation, and sustainability remain unresolved. In this context, a film that centers older women as capable, ambitious builders is not just refreshing — it’s necessary.

It is not a story about scale. It is a story about self-worth. And that, in many ways, is the foundational capital of any entrepreneurial journey.

Why I’ll Be Watching

I’m not watching Auntypreneur because I’m curious about what happens next — the trailer already outlines that arc. I’m watching because I want to witness what starting looks like when you’ve spent a lifetime being told your time is up.

The film may be predictable in its structure, but its intent is rare. And its emotional currency — the desire to reclaim one’s narrative — feels authentic.

For anyone who has ever thought, “ab kya naya shuru karun?”, Auntypreneur seems to offer a reply that is both gentle and urgent:

Start now. You’re not too late. You’re right on time.