Whether it is in the form of The Powerpuff Girls who fight monsters, or as
Wonder Woman
who comes to the rescue of citizens in distress--the West looks at their women too to save the day from time to time. However, even though
Bollywood
is coming-of-age with women-led films like 'Chhapaak', 'Panga', 'Kahaani', 'Queen', 'Neerja', which is a far cry from the times it reduced its women to mere eye-candy, it is yet to deliver a female superhero. So, what's stopping India, a country with a mythology rich with Goddesses, from coming up with a superheroine?
Bollywood has had its fair share of male superheroes--from Drona to Krrish--and trade analyst, Taran Adarsh agrees that now might be the right time to introduce a female superhero. "People are now open to watching different kinds of genres on digital platforms and even experiment with a lot of international stuff. The mindset of the audience is changing and even filmmakers have noticed this change. They are aiming at making films which are out-of-the-box yet within the commercial parameters. There's definitely a market for such movies but its box office success depends on the content," he explains.
'Tiger Zinda Hai' director
Ali Abbas Zafar, meanwhile, has already gauged the scope for a female superhero film and has even announced one which will have
Katrina Kaif in the lead. Talking about the project to ETimes earlier, the filmmaker had informed, "There's still a lot of prep work left in the pre-production stages which we are currently in. Anyway, I have decided that Poland, Georgia, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Uttarakhand will be where I shoot the film."
Ali had also revealed that his superheroine won't have a romantic angle in the film. "Well, I don't need a man opposite Katrina in this film. She herself is the hero, so, no mainstream and no non-mainstream hero either. This film will be mounted on a huge scale and will be very new and different," he had promised.
Filmmaker
Nikhil Dwivedi, who is producing a Naagin trilogy with
Shraddha Kapoor in the lead, insists that shape-shifting is a superpower too. "Our
female superheroes
so far have been our Goddesses but Naagin is one of most ancient superheroes in Indian mythology and cast a spell every time they appear onscreen. The idea for our film is to give the Naagin a contemporary twist to it and make it really exciting," he exults.