Sonam Kapoor Ahuja Power Player

It's 4:30pm, London time. A make-up-free Sonam Kapoor Ahuja appears on my Zoom video screen and her face broadens into a wide, warm smile. "Oh my God, hi!" she exclaims, "I haven't seen you in forever!"

The last time I met Sonam was in 2019. We were in a studio in Mumbai, not a mask in sight, and I watched as the actor tackled, with equal gusto, the clothes on the styling rack and views on women's issues. We spoke about her role as a small-town queer woman in Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga; her love for homegrown labels; and her assured definition of feminism—no longer a call for bra-burning, but to push for equal rights, equal opportunities, and equal choices.

For the last few months, Sonam has been in London with husband Anand Ahuja ("I visit India so often, a lot of people don't realise that I actually live in London," she says). She has been working with Anand on some of his brands (including the collections at community-first fashion label, Bhaane), and creating content for her Instagram feed (her candid video series—where she opens up about her struggles with PCOS—received a barrage of gratitude messages from women who had been suffering in silence). And soon, she will begin shooting for the Hindi remake of the South-Korean film Blind, where Sonam will play a visually-impaired girl who gets involved in a hit-and-run case.

But at this very minute, the actor