Indian Cinema Is Finally Coming Of Age By Making More Atypical Women-Centric Movies

The portrayal of female actors in majority of Hindi films revolves around sexual desires of their 'heroes' and 'villains'. Some filmmakers have experimented with a 'different' kind of story telling, but their imagination vis-a-vis female actors don't stretch beyond the imagery of a victim.

With the evolution of society and subsequently the cinema, this has certainly changed. No doubt, there are movies which still portray women as an object of desire in a not-so-subtle way, but the Bollywood has witnessed the rise of movies which stay away from the conventions of popular mainstream media.

Films like Mother India, Sahab, Biwi Aur Ghulam, Bandit Queen established the base the Indian cinema needed wherein female characters portrayed a powerful character and were later followed up by movies like Arth and Fire, that focussed on women telling their stories.

Along the way, movies like Dor, Parched, Angry Indian Goddesses, Queen, Nil Battey Sannata, Tumhari Sullu, English Vinglish, NH10, Raazi, Kahaani and Dirty Picture changed the face of Indian cinema. Powerful women characters started driving change and drawing crowds to cinema in a traditionally male-centric business. The myth around heroines ¨C their star power, their shelf life, their ability to bring business ¨C has now been revised.

Women-centric movies started becoming commercial success, corroborating the idea that a non-conforming story with a woman in the lead role can work. The characters of flawed women, grappling with real-life issues and trying to survive in a society that has always ruled over their bodies and emotions, has struck a chord with the audience that now wants to watch ¡°unconventional¡±, slice-of-life kind of movies. Marking a shift from formula-driven stories where the male lead always portrayed the role of the savior of heroine surrounded by gundas, the movies in which female leads fight for their right to personal freedom are slowly becoming a preferred choice.

The Age Of Avant-Garde

Leading not just with the choice of movies, actors in Indian cinema are also transforming their bodies for their roles. Actors like Tanvi Azmi, Shabana Azmi, Lisa Ray, Nandita Das, Antara Mali are among the actors who went bald for their trailblazing movie projects.

Cut to 2019, Bollywood is ready with a movie that deals with the sensitive issue of female hair loss eventually leading to baldness. The Indian society has obsessively associated beauty with a woman¡¯s hair and its length. Over the ages, hair has picked up many social connotations about the physical and mental state of an individual. Also, has its loss.

Gone Kesh follows the story of a young woman, played by Shweta Tripathi, who suffers from a medical condition called alopecia, that often results in hair loss. Now that long hair is revered in our society, especially in the middle-class set-up, hair loss also leads to low self-esteem and self-image, and women dealing with hair-loss are often stereotyped. The film tells that life is not about the hair you have or don¡¯t have on your head but about the lessons you learn.

¡°As a woman, we have to stand up for each other. Every time we stand up for ourselves, we stand up for other women too. The Indian society has spent a great deal of time to determine how a woman should look and as a result, women dwell in the idea of they should look, instead of focussing on how they are. The idea of beauty is to accept who you are and how you are. The idea of a girlfriend, wife and daughter being a certain way must be done away with,¡± says Shweta.

Any art is the reflection of the society and such cinema proves that Indian cinema is changing. Movie subjects which were once labelled ¡®unconventional¡¯, ¡®parallel¡¯ and ¡®off-beat¡¯, have found a way into the mainstream and are here to stay for a very long time, thankfully.

¡°There are directors, producers and writers willing to make such movies, actors willing to be a part of such cinema and audience that¡¯s willing to watch such movies because they associate with it. This change is very good because change makes us grow. The only obstacle with such movies is that they don¡¯t come from a big banner or a director and hence, deal with lack of funds to promote movies,¡± Shweta asserts.

Another movie that is set to break the stereotypes is Deepika Padukone¡¯s Chhapaak, directed by Meghna Gulzar. Chhapaak is the story of an acid-attack survivor who overcomes difficulties and showcases undying human spirit. The film tackles the burning subject of acid attacks and the culture of victim-blaming.

Even though the Indian cinema is changing at a satisfactory pace, there is a lot of reflection and contemplation left to done while assigning roles to female and male actors.

Indian cinema has now come to realise the potential of women-centric cinema not merely as a societal tool but also that they do not need a male superstar to run the movie.