She's changing! Even when she's doing the mandatory song-dance routine and acting as the glam prop for the leading men, some of B-Town's women protagonists are also strong-willed women living their dreams and celebrating life.
She's portrayed as someone who's unapologetic about voicing her opinion and thinks nothing about raising eyebrows by her sassy acts.
The year started with Rani Mukerji's abusive and aggresive journo act in No One Killed Jessica, followed by the bindaas Kangna Ranaut in Tanu Weds Manu (TWM) who does not think twice about smoking and drinking and even rejects a suitable groom for a 'bad boy', and then came the ambitious Bipasha Basu in Dum Maaro Dum who dumps her lover and chooses to move in with a rich benefactor who can fulfill her dreams. Also lighting the screens this year was Priyanka Chopra on a killing spree in Saat Khoon Maaf, mean girl Shraddha Kapoor who got even with a cheating boyfriend in Luv Ka The End, the rebellious Kalki Koechlin in Shaitan, the spunky Poorna Jagannathan in Delhi Belly and freespirit Katrina Kaif in Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara who rides a Harley Davidson and smooches her boyfriend before bidding him goodbye. Coming up next are Deepika Padukone as the Gen Z girl ready to live life on her own terms in Aarakshan and Vidya Balan as sultry screen seductress Silk Smitha in Dirty Picture.
Filmmaker Anand Rai who directed (TWM) feels that these characters are a reflection of urban Indian society. "Earlier if you saw a girl smoking she was labelled as the 'bad girl', but that myth has changed. Tanu in my film is an educated girl who is closely attached to her culture but has a new thought process towards life. I wanted to show that in my film."
Filmmakers and actors agree that it is high time women were etched as real people instead of being conceived as cardboard cutouts. Filmmaker Bejoy Nambiar who directed Shaitan, says, "All the female characters in my film had a mind of their own and are not perfect. We filmmakers need to create women characters who are real and the audience connects with them."
Actor Kangana Ranaut says that she has come across tons of women like her character on screen. "Every person I met told me that she has a friend like Tanu or that she is herself Tanu. The character was audacious." Earlier filmmakers like Raj Kapoor or Yash Chopra had strong female characters too, but today's movies portray a kick-ass and bold woman who's unafraid to follow her instincts and hearts and the masses relate to her too. Says filmmaker Zoya Akhtar, "The 21st century urban woman is not supposed to feel shy about kissing her boyfriend! If filmmakers are't shy about showing women in bikinis, then why is such a hue and cry made when a heroine kisses the hero? I hang out with real women who have no hang-ups about living and celebrating their womanhood and I have always shown that in my films."
In Bollywood, it's perfectly okay now for the women to be ambitious, pursue their happiness and dreams. At least in reel time.
She's portrayed as someone who's unapologetic about voicing her opinion and thinks nothing about raising eyebrows by her sassy acts.
The year started with Rani Mukerji's abusive and aggresive journo act in No One Killed Jessica, followed by the bindaas Kangna Ranaut in Tanu Weds Manu (TWM) who does not think twice about smoking and drinking and even rejects a suitable groom for a 'bad boy', and then came the ambitious Bipasha Basu in Dum Maaro Dum who dumps her lover and chooses to move in with a rich benefactor who can fulfill her dreams. Also lighting the screens this year was Priyanka Chopra on a killing spree in Saat Khoon Maaf, mean girl Shraddha Kapoor who got even with a cheating boyfriend in Luv Ka The End, the rebellious Kalki Koechlin in Shaitan, the spunky Poorna Jagannathan in Delhi Belly and freespirit Katrina Kaif in Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara who rides a Harley Davidson and smooches her boyfriend before bidding him goodbye. Coming up next are Deepika Padukone as the Gen Z girl ready to live life on her own terms in Aarakshan and Vidya Balan as sultry screen seductress Silk Smitha in Dirty Picture.
Filmmaker Anand Rai who directed (TWM) feels that these characters are a reflection of urban Indian society. "Earlier if you saw a girl smoking she was labelled as the 'bad girl', but that myth has changed. Tanu in my film is an educated girl who is closely attached to her culture but has a new thought process towards life. I wanted to show that in my film."
Filmmakers and actors agree that it is high time women were etched as real people instead of being conceived as cardboard cutouts. Filmmaker Bejoy Nambiar who directed Shaitan, says, "All the female characters in my film had a mind of their own and are not perfect. We filmmakers need to create women characters who are real and the audience connects with them."
Actor Kangana Ranaut says that she has come across tons of women like her character on screen. "Every person I met told me that she has a friend like Tanu or that she is herself Tanu. The character was audacious." Earlier filmmakers like Raj Kapoor or Yash Chopra had strong female characters too, but today's movies portray a kick-ass and bold woman who's unafraid to follow her instincts and hearts and the masses relate to her too. Says filmmaker Zoya Akhtar, "The 21st century urban woman is not supposed to feel shy about kissing her boyfriend! If filmmakers are't shy about showing women in bikinis, then why is such a hue and cry made when a heroine kisses the hero? I hang out with real women who have no hang-ups about living and celebrating their womanhood and I have always shown that in my films."
In Bollywood, it's perfectly okay now for the women to be ambitious, pursue their happiness and dreams. At least in reel time.
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