‘Women are also heroes’

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“Women are also heroes and need better representation in Bollywood. A woman cannot be used as a commodity and cast in a certain mould. The hero needs to acknowledge the heroine because the women are also heroes. The gender-sensitive mindsets in Indian cinema will have to go,” author Advaita Kala said recently citing Kahaani as an example.

While some women in the industry agree with the author, others say that giving a female protagonist an equal status is back in tinsel town. Director of Aisha, Rajshree Ojha says, “There is gender bias, but the industry is progressing. In most of the films, the hero gets a prominent role, while the heroine is a sidekick. Although there have been movies where actresses have played parallel and equal roles to heroes. In the past too, in movies like Pakeezah, Mother India, Rekha in Khoobsurat, Jhooti etc, actresses have played the main protagonists and pulled it off beautifully. But I feel the fate of women-oriented films is decided by the box office verdict. With Kahaani and The Dirty Picture, Vidya Balan has brought back the trend, which I hope should last for long.”
Madhureeta Anand, documentary filmmaker and director of the film Mere Khwabon Mein Jo Aaye, puts forward a strong point by saying that even though Bollywood is making women-oriented films, they are not portrayed in the right way. “Bollywood being a part of our misogynist country, couldn’t but have a gender-bias mindset. In the name of celebrating the modern Indian women in present day films, there is further commodification of women. Bollywood portrays the new Indian woman in lead roles either as a drunk prostitute or a bikini-clad babe who abuses and flashes her body. New-age Indian women are beautiful, strong and responsible, but if that’s the way Indian cinema portrays women as lead protagonists, then such films shouldn’t be made at all,” she adds.
But actress Esha Gupta feels otherwise. “Although it’s still a man’s world, women are moving on with the times. Even in films, I think actresses are getting their full due. My upcoming film Raaz 3 depicts me in a bold role. In the past too, recent movies like Jab We Met was all about Kareena. After all, the role basically depends on the demand of the film scripts,” she shares.