In our films, we don’t see women as real humans: Tanvi

While many feel that roles being written for women in Bollywood have undergone a change, Tanvi Azmi feels that there is still a long way to go. “We don’t see women as real human beings, especially in our films. They are always more of a padding to the actual story and never given such an importance,” the actor shares.

Citing the example of Thappad (2020), Azmi adds, “A film like that was pleasantly surprising because it was a man’s gaze in a woman’s world where he was holding the man responsible. It’s nice that things are tuning around and people are aware, but a woman was never really looked at with such depth, her pain, dreams, her failures, her losses, any of that. I’m glad that we are now coming up with stuff like that.”

The 60-year-old, who stars in the recently released web film, Tribhanga, a women-centric story helmed by actorfilmmaker Renuka Shahane, lauds OTT platforms for ushering in a change in storytelling. “Thanks to OTT platforms, people are now willing to explore things. They know that the film will get an audience... That’s fantastic,” she shares.

A National Award winner, Azmi has worked with all three mediums now — TV, films and web — and says her approach remains same.

“I don’t think the medium should make any difference to actors. It’s more about the commercial viability of a projects. I suppose with theatrical, you will earn more, but in the case of OTTs, the reach is bigger,” she concludes.

PHOTO: YOGEN SHAH Tanvi Azmi