Bollywood has progressed in leaps and bounds over the past few years — filmmakers no longer stick to the safe formula for a hit, and female-centric films are no longer the exception to the rule. Recently, we’ve watched two trailers that have felt like a breath of fresh air — Radhika Madaan in the action-packed Mard Ko Dard Nahi Hota and Kangana Ranaut as a sword-wielding queen in Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi — and we hope we can safely say that the days of actresses looking like damsels in distress are behind us.
Until recently, actresses were relegated to playing either delicate darlings singing songs of love and heartbreak or vamps just a tad too independent for Indian audiences to digest. Meanwhile, action and power-packed roles were reserved exclusively for the industry’s hunky males.
Over the last decade or so, the evolution of women on screen has been gradual, but promising. It all began with Priyanka Chopra as Roma in the 2006 film Don — the over-sexed, impeccably dressed woman who looked irresistible as she landed every kick and defied the norms of the time. Then, in 2014 PeeCee impressed us again as she packed a punch in Mary Kom, a movie that changed the perception of female actors in action roles. With her bruised face, black eyes, and cornrows, Priyanka and Omung Kumar had us sold. The years that followed brought us Deepika Padukone as Mastani, Sanya Malhotra and Fatima Shaikh as the Phogat sisters, Anushka Sharma as a wrestler in Sultan, and Taspsee Pannu as a spy in Naam Shabana and Baby.
But what caused this tectonic shift? Is credit owed to writers, producers and directors for taking the risk of offering mainstream actresses unconventional roles, or to the actresses for demanding roles that are more substantial and challenging?
Action director Tinu Verma says it’s neither — the change is just a product of the ever-growing competition in the film industry. “Bollywood is no longer just a place for star kids. New actors emerge every day, and competition is at its peak. It is this competition that has pushed actresses to step out of their stereotypical sati-savitri roles and take up more unconventional ones. Today, actresses train not only to stay slim but also to fit their roles. They’re on par with actors when it comes to the kind of effort they put in, especially for action roles. Action roles are not reserved for men anymore,” he says, adding, “Having said that, I think the audience has also become a lot more accepting of women in such roles. That gives actors and directors the confidence to make unusual movies.”
Actress Taapsee Pannu, who has been lauded for her film choices, says, “I feel lucky to have been a part of such action films, and things are only going to get better as the industry is headed towards gender equality. I did some hard-core action scenes in Baby and Naam Shabana, and the way I did them was not decided based on my gender. It’s good that the line between the two genders is getting blurred as far as being the hero of a film is concerned.”
Meanwhile, action director Sham Kaushal tells us that actresses’ training regimes change with their storylines now. “If the plot demands that an actress must look a certain way, there can be no two ways about it,” he says.
