It’s Raining Women-Centric Films In Bollywood

With the mega success of Ranj Mukerjee’s MARDANI, Vidya Balan’s THE DIRTY PICTURE, KAHAANI and Sridevi’s , ENGLISH VINGLISH doing not just roaring business at the box office but winning critical acclaim many more women centric movies are in pipeline. According to a trade analyst more recently, the tide seems to be turning in favour of films with women-oriented scripts gaining acceptance in the industry. In addition actresses too are more open to playing protagonists for a change.

Among the movies that are ready to roll include Priyanka Chopra’s MARY KOM, Bipasha Basu’s CREATURE, Deepika Padukone’s FINDING FANNY and Sonam Kapoor’s KHOOBSURAT. With these movies it seems the golden era of the 50’s and 60’s is coming alive when actresses like Meena Kumar (PAKEEZA), Nargis (MOTHER INDIA), Nutan (SUJATA), Waheeda Rehman (GUIDE) etc. did women centric movies and won acclaim at par with the heroes. 

Applauding the success of women centric movies grabbing attention Girish Wankhede, Head Marketing, PVR Pictures in an interview candidly confessed, “Women centric movies is not a new phenomena. In the past there have been many movies like Hema Malini (SEETA AUR GEETA), Sridevi (CHALBAAZ) and Madhuri Dixit (BETA) etc. In fact each year there has been at least one film or more every year which used to be a hit due to a female protagonist in there.” 

He added, “Now in the new era, films like QUEEN show that actresses can drive a film if backed by great production house, good marketing and strong content. MARDAANI has been showing some strength and CREATURE should follow suit too.''

Vidya Balan, who is known to do women centric films feels, “A good film will always do good business, irrespective of its theme. People react to human beings and their stories. The only criterion is how well a story is told. How else can you explain that GRAVITY bagged seven Oscars besides being the sixth highest grossing film of 2013?” 

Shabana Azmi, known for portraying strong women centric roles like ARTH, MANDI, ANKUR, GODMOTHER etc agrees with Vidya Balan, she said, “There is a misconception among filmmakers that only male oriented movies work at box office. However whenever a good women centric movie is made it has been appreciated. Vidya Balan’s women-centric films have had commercial success, and in the past too, films of Meena Kumari and Nutan were very successful. Who can forget women centric movies like Bandini, Seema, Sujata , Insaaf Ka Tarazu, Damini, Lajja… the list is long”