Bollywood Women Centric Movies- Are those diverse and inclusive enough as intended?

Bollywood Women-centric Movies- is it a Paradox?

Being a woman, we are always motivated to watch, promote and idealize women centric movies, and ‘’woman telling woman’s story’’ makes it more special. We absolutely adored when names legends like Nargis, Smita Patil, Sabaza Azmi, Deepti Naval, Meenakshi Sheshadri, or Dimple Kapadia, delivered many women-centric progressive movies, biographies and elevated the genre in cinemas. Not denying any of the fact that more films need to be made on those women who have been inspiring generations to cross the demographic barrier, preconceived notions on patriarchy and sexism; my question is more towards whether these films are women centric actually or cast-centric? What I mean is- while women story enthuse us to break the biases, do they make justice while choosing the right woman for the craft?

Let’s throw some statistics from Bollywood: here is the list of top 25 highest paid female actors in Bollywood sorted in descending order with respect to their earnings per film [Source:medium.com.]. I am mapping them against overall movies and the number of women centric movies they have been casted in. The finding is interesting.

Name	Overall movies in leading role	No of women centric film	Names of the movies
Kangana Ranaut	30+	8	Manikarnika, Panga, Queen, Tanu weds Manu (2), Simran, Judgemental hai Keya? Woh Lamhe,
Deepika Padukone	25+	2	Chhapaak, Piku,
Shraddha Kapoor	15+	1	Stree
Alia Bhat	12+	3	Raazi, Dear Zindegi, Highway
Priyanka Chopra	40+	3	Fashion,Mary Kom, 7 Khun Maaf
Kareena Kapoor	47+	2	Heroine, Chameli,
Katrina Kaif	32+	0
Sonam Kapoor	17+	3	Neerja, Aisha,Dolly ki Doli
Vidya Balan	20+	8+	Dirty Picture, Kahaani (2), Shakuntala Devi, Tumhari Sullu, Begum Jaan, No one killed Jessica, Bobby Jasoos
Anushka Sharma	19+		NH10, Pari, Phillauri
Parineeti Chopra	11+	1	Meri Payaari Bindu
Sonakshi Sinha	22+	3	Akira, Khandaani Shafakhana, Noor
Aishwarya Rai	33+	3	Umraao Jaan, Provoked, Sarbjit
Jacqueline Fernandez	22+	1	Mrs. Serial Killer
Kajol	38+	1	Helicopter Eela
Kriti Shanon	9+	0
Tapsee Pannu	13+	3+	Thappad, Pink, Naam Shabana
Kiara Advani	8+	1	Guilty
Bhumi Pednekar	8+	2	Toilet, Shand ki Ankh
Yami Gautam	9+	0
Ileana Dcruz	12+	0
Tabu	33+	2	Chandni Bar, Astitva,
Rani Mukherjee	30+	3+	Mardani (2),Hichki, Aiyya
Radhika Apte	15+	1	Phobia,
Others- Sara Ali Khan, Janhvi Kapoor, Ananya Pande, Disha Patani etc	4+	0

 

The women centric movies are chosen on the basis of the lead female actors’ extent of screen presence and the role in those movies. The reason behind taking the pain to list down the names of the actresses -active in 2020 with a pay range of 1crore to 30crore, is –showing the importance to qualify the sample from a large population and build on the hypothesis. The result is super skewed and one can easily figure the two ‘Pareto’ names who are responsible for almost 75-80% contribution in all the women centric movies of recent times. They are Kangana Ranaut and Vidya Balan.

They obviously created a niche space with their acting talent to carry out an entire film by themselves. They were hardworking, coming from a non-film background, they always had the fire to prove themselves to any possible extent. Even their initial choice of the movies and certain decisions like refusal to act opposite to the 3 Khans or any movie with high degree of testosterone, and talking openly to the media about those -worked in their favour.

But are they all? Or there is something else as well? Why is it somehow taken for granted that Kangana and Vidya are the only fit choices for women centric roles in this decade? Isn’t it a prejudice in itself and inclining to favouritism? Why can’t the film makers evaluate who else is deserving and resembling far better with the actual character before offering them the protagonist part?

There is no scarcity of talent in the industry, neither any dearth of female actors -the above list is the evidence. And the varieties offer by rest - range from adventurist to war hero, from prostitute to activist, or from independent woman to circumstantial victim- which are highly appreciated not only by many renowned film critiques, but also in national award platforms. But why are they never auditioned when there is a new woman-centric movie in the make? Why can’t Kareena Kapoor be a Shakuntala Devi or Anushka Sharma play a Manikarnika? Are there selective perceptions in play?

If this superficial predisposition continues, the viewers will pretty soon get tired of the same old persona offered by the two women, who, being currently content and confident in their comfort zones so much, don’t intent to risk to break the rubrics and hard-earned fandom.

Food for thought & disclaimer:  The women centric roles no longer endorse a bias-free society, rather it promotes a monopoly to reign on those opportunities without competition. No criticism is intended on the acting talent of the two female actors in this article.