From Kappu Bilupu to Durgi: Five best women-centric films in Sandalwood

With the entire world speaking with one voice for the betterment and progress in the condition of women across the world, more and more people have been portraying feminist ideologies in their expression of thoughts. While Indian movies were largely patriarchal in the past, in-keeping with the then social conditions, now things have changed. More and more women are seen as central characters in plots and many of them tend to be the protagonists. Here we list down the five best women-centric movies in Kannada.

Kappu Bilupu is a 1969 women-oriented movie directed by Puttanna Kanagal, and is considered as one of the first women-oriented films in the history of Kannada film industry. When the industry was filled with male-oriented movies, Puttanna Kanagal experimented with this plot. The movie showcases the problems faced by women in urban and rural areas, and revolves around twins. The director spoke to the youth about their perspectives directly and portrayed the same in the film making it a super hit.

Thaayi Saheba is a 1997 story extracted from a novel ‘Thaayi Saheba’ written by Ranganath Shyamrao Lokapura and directed by Girish Kasaravalli. This movie showed two parts of life in India which were pre-independence and post-independence and women played a major role in the movie. This movie also shows the social condition of women during that period. The story revolves around a married woman where her son tries to marry his stepsister and her mother fights against the society and helps them get married. Thaayi Saheba is one of the movies which broke the social norms and was honoured as the best film in the 45th National Film Awards.

Durgi is a 2004 movie directed by P Ravi Shankar starring Malashri in the lead role. Durgi is an action movie and the story revolved around a woman who wanted to seek revenge with a certain politician and his son for killing and raping her sister. The director tried to show the strength in women and what they are capable of doing when situations turn against them.

Gulabi Talkies is a 2008 movie written by Kannada writer Vaidehi, directed by Girish Kasaravalli and starring Umashree in the lead role. It is another beautiful women-oriented movie based on Muslim women who live independently. Gulabi (Umashree) is the protagonist in the movie, who lives with fishermen on an island. Gulabi is obsessed with the movies and she gets a TV as a gift from a rich family. Netra, who is Gulabi’s best friend, disappears from the island and everyone blames Gulabi for it. The clash between the fisherman and Muslims, and the disappearing of Netra adds more fuel to the issue and the village people throw Gulabi out of their village. This movie won Osian's Cinefan Festival of Asian and Arab Cinema Award for Best Film and Best actress and many other awards.

Moggina Manasu is a 2008 movie directed by Shashank, starring Radhika Pandit and Shubha Poonja in the lead role. The movie showcases the problems of teenagers and how they face it. The movie is about college teenagers who deal with different problems in colleges. The director has handled various issues like teenage pregnancy and ragging in colleges.