Will women finally be on top in B-town?

The women in Bollywood are constantly short-changed. Filmmakers don’t bat an eyelid whilst replacing Katrina Kaif with Kareena Kapoor or Priyanka Chopra with Deepika Padukone.
Of course, everyone knows that the B-town heroine is the necessary evil in a film. “You can’t do without them and yet you can’t make movies just on them,’’ says a trade source.
In what is typically a male-dominated scenario, few Bollywood filmmakers actually stick their necks out to write good scripts for the female protagonist.
Madhur Bhandarkar, who has been successful with his women centric cinema (Chandni Bar, 2001; Page 3, 2005; and, Fashion, 2008) is considered the torch-bearer by actresses who occasionally feel the need to prove their mettle. Yet the last 55 years of Hindi cinema, you will only come up with a dozen films with women at the center of the plot that have actually made money.
Mehboob Khan’s Mother India (1957) and Kamal Amrohi’s Pakeezah (1972) are the best examples of female protagonists who have attained posterity.
However, in the years that have followed, few such films have worked. Trade consultant Amod Mehra says, “Hema Malini had a hit in the dacoit drama Ramkali (1985) and Rekha’s charisma worked in the vendetta flicks Khoon Bhari Maang (1988) and Phool Bane Angaarey (1991). And the Madhuri magic is what saved Indra Kumar’s Raja (1995). But despite it all, films with female protagonists have only worked if they have been backed by solid makers, i.e. Hrishikesh Mukerjee’s Khoobsoorat.’’
It is argued that though Hema Malini had a double role in Seeta Aur Geeta and Sridevi had a double role in Chaalbaaz, these movies would not have had the super box office run without the presence of rock solid heroes like Dharmendra, Sanjeev Kumar, Rajnikant and Sunny Deol respectively. In other words women have had to be packaged with big heroes to become major draws.
Even as women fight for their 33 per cent reservation in Parliament, B-town beauties are also trying to break loose. One of the top girls argues, “How long can I be some Khans’ arm-candy or a Kapoors’ love interest? I need meat in the role.’’
“The success of Raj Kumar Gupta’s No One Killed Jessica has changed that,’’ says trade analyst Taran Adarsh. “Now more filmmakers will definitely write even stronger scripts for the heroines.’’
NOKJ is the first certified hit of 2011; Rani Mukerji and Vidya Balan have proven to be a formidable twosome. Amod also feels that there is a strong buzz about Vishal Bharadwaj’s Saat Khoon Maaf because Priyanka is an actress of substance and post Kaminey, Vishal is a maker worth watching out for.
Since nothing succeeds like success, Bollywood filmmakers are quickly planning rehashes of Erin Brockovich and Mamma Mia; movies that revolved around Julia Roberts and Meryl Streep. Check out Vidya Balan's homepage
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