The power women
If a film, with a female actor in the lead, can touch people’s hearts, there’s nothing like it. TARAN ADARSH, TRADE ANALYST
Historically too, several film-makers have cast female actors in title roles. A few examples are Nutan-starrer Sujata (1959), Nargis’ Mother India (1957), Meena Kumari-starrer Pakeezah (1972) and Hema Malini-starrer Seeta Aur Geeta (1972). In the recent past, actors such as Sridevi, Madhuri Dixit-Nene, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Priyanka Chopra and Sonam Kapoor have also played titular parts.
BEING FEARLESS
But film-maker Sanjay Gupta feels “directors need to show guts if things have to undergo a tectonic shift.” He explains: “If you recall some of the landmark female star-driven films such as Mother India, Seeta Aur Geeta or Khoon Bhari Maang (1988), the makers went all out and gave these films the same budget and treatment as they would to any male star-driven project. The real change will come only then.”
Actors, on their part, are happy to shoulder the big responsibility. Alia Bhatt, for instance, feels audiences will see her in a “completely different avatar” in Raazi. “At least, that is my wish because as a film, it’s very distinct. I must admit that the film has been very challenging. We shot for it in an almost non-stop manner. Overall, it has been a good and an interesting journey — creatively as well as mentally,” says Alia.
TOUCHING HEARTS
Trade analyst Taran Adarsh feels the Hindi film industry has always had movies with women in titular parts. “But it’s great to see that the number of such movies is on the rise now. And why not? Any story that can be told effectively and with the right amount of entertainment quotient will work. If a film, with a female actor in the lead, can touch people’s hearts, there’s nothing like it,” he says. Deepika, who plays queen Padmavati in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s magnum opus, hopes that her “film sets a trend.” “Not just for me but I hope [it gives way to] many such roles for women. In that sense, it is an extremely defining moment for our cinema, and it [the change] doesn’t have to be just for me but for anyone and everyone. I hope it opens up avenues for all of us (female actors),” says the actor.