Wave of women centric Bollywood movies a welcome trend

New Delhi, March 7 – “No One Killed Jessica”, “Mirch”, “Turning 30″ and “7 Khoon Maaf” – all women-centric films in the last few months show the female leads in strong and powerful roles. Filmmakers and actors hope this trend continues in future.

 

On the silver screen women are usually seen as a helpless mother, submissive wife, devoted girlfriend, overcaring sister, daughter or a vamp, but directors like Vishal Bharadwaj and Alankrita Shrivastava are trying to break the mould and present women in a more realistic, vibrant and unconventional way.

One-film-old Rajkumar Gupta’s “No One Killed Jessica” was an attempt to bring alive the struggle of Sabrina Lall’s fight with the Indian judiciary for years to get justice for her murdered sister.

Starring Vidya Balan and Rani Mukerji, the movie created a buzz as it was inspired by the 1999 murder of model Jessica Lall and the director was never apprehensive that his film won’t do well without a strong male character.

“The protagonists in my movie were two leading ladies who were very powerful in whatever they did. It’s not easy to make a film on such a theme, but times are changing and people are accepting it with open arms,” Gupta told IANS.

Director Vinay Shukla, best known for his 1999, multiple National Award-winning project “Godmother”, is confident there will be more successful women-centric films in the years to come.

“At the moment, the number of women-centric movies is less, but it will grow with time because actresses nowadays have got huge potential to run a movie on their shoulders much like their male counterparts,” said Shukla, whose latest film “Mirch” dealt with four stories of women’s emancipation.

Other movies that gave importance to women character is Bharadwaj’s “7 Khoon Maaf”, inspired by Ruskin Bond’s short story “Susanna’s Seven Husbands”, which saw Priyanka Chopra bumping off her seven husbands, while debutant Alankrita Shrivastava’s “Turning 30″ was a take on the dilemma of women at the milestone age.

Talking about her experience of working as the leading lady in “Turning 30″, actress Gul Panag said: “‘Turning 30′ was all about a woman’s perspective and being a woman, I loved shooting every part of the movie as it was an honest attempt. We gave it our best and I am proud of the movie.”

Earlier too, films like “Dor” (2006), “Silsilay” (2005), “Tehzeeb” (2003), “Pinjar” (2003), “Chameli” (2003), “Satta” (2003), “Filhaal” (2002), “Zubeidaa” (2001) “Lajja” (2001), “Chandni Bar” (2001) and “Fiza” (2000) brought the woman into the spotlight – all these films got critical acclaim, but they didn’t turn out to be a commercial hit.

Shukla pointed out: “It’s not that the trend of women playing the main character has come into practice now. It has been happening for quite long. From Meena Kumari in ‘Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam’, Nargis in ‘Mother India’, Nutan in ‘Bandini’ to Hema Malini in ‘Seeta aur Geeta’ and Meenakshi Seshadri in ‘Damini’, these ladies always managed to make an impression on the audience.”

“The number of such movies has in fact decreased in today’s time but the reason could be that women-centric movies are distinctive and appeals only to a specific audience,” he added.

Veteran actress and censor board chief Sharmila Tagore said: “I feel more women-centric films will come with time. But we shouldn’t complain because it’s the same the world over – it is indeed, the male characters that are in prominence even in Hollywood. So we shouldn’t fuss.”

The 64-year-old, who has been in the industry for over five decades, feels “No One Killed Jessica” is the only woman-centric movie to have worked at the box office.

“Only one women-centric film has sort of worked – ‘No One Killed Jessica’; so one shouldn’t get too excited about the phenomenon. ‘No One Killed Jessica’ was a hugely publicised film because of the actual happening, which had affected so many people. The news about Jessica (Lall) was in the front page of dailies for very long, people were so involved, so the film had a lot of publicity value in a commercial way. So, it was one success,” Sharmila explained.

Meanwhile acclaimed actress Rani Mukerji says she is looking forward to more projects where women are projected as strong and powerful.

“Whatever films I have been a part of so far, most of them have been women-centric films. I wish to do more such films where women are shown stronger because it is a fact that women are stronger,” she said.

By Nivedita Sharma

Priyanka Chopra wants to marry six times

A Movie Still From 7 Khoon Maaf

New Delhi, March 1 – Priyanka Chopra seems to have taken her role in “7 Khoon Maaf” a little too seriously! The versatile actress, who gets married seven times in the thriller, says she would love to marry at least six times in real life – but to the same man.
 

“I have been planning my wedding since as far back as I can remember! My ideal scenario is getting married six times (to the same man of course),” Priyanka revealed in the upcoming, second anniversary issue of fashion magazine Harper’s Bazaar.

The 28-year-old, one of the most eligible singles in tinsel town, already has elaborate plans set in her mind about the six spots and types of ceremonies she would like to have.

“My dadaji’s (grandfather’s) house in Ambala – my ‘big, fat Indian wedding’; underwater at the Great Barrier Reef in Australia; a church in Las Vegas – wearing a short black dress and with the priest dressed as Elvis; the intimate ceremony – at a small, beautiful church in Locarno, Switzerland. It’s on top of a hill that overlooks parts of Germany, Italy, and Switzerland.

She also wants to go in for a nikah.

“Only very close family and friends will be present; a nikah – I think it’s a beautiful, romantic ceremony – the curtains, the stolen glances, the words, and finally the acceptance… ‘Kabool hai’; and lastly, the groom’s choice! If my future groom survives all that, then we’ll survive anything!” she added.

The plans are all quite set of course, but Priyanka says marriage does not figure on her priority list as of now.

“There is so much happening on the work front right now, which is my priority. I will get married, but I can’t say when. It’s not really in my control. I am a hopeless romantic, so I’m waiting for the man who is meant to be with me; he may arrive today, or five years later,” she said.

In the meantime, her hectic schedules and film promotions will keep her on her toes.

She has almost finished the shoot of “Don – The Chase Continues”. She will start work on Karan Johar’s remake of “Agneepath” and then she has Anurag Basu’s “Barfee”, Kunal Kohli’s next, as well as “Krrish 2″.

In her interview to Harper’s Bazaar, the National award-winning actress has spoken about her journey to fame, the importance of awards, industry rivalry, her style, aspirations and her much-talked about chemistry with Shahid Kapoor.

The magazine hits the stands Wednesday.

I'm accountable to my parents: Priyanka

Her dark comedy " 7 Khoon Maaf" has under-performed at the box office, but Priyanka Chopra is confident it won't lose money as it was not a big budget film.

"We haven't really spent that much on it. No, it isn't an expensive film," said the 28-year-old who enjoys being one of the top actresses in Bollywood.

It wasn't easy for Priyanka to go through seven different looks and emotions in "7 Khoon Maaf", which is directed by Vishal Bhardwaj. On top of it there were all those stories about the intimate scenes with her leading men.

"After seeing the film, I've had people ask, 'Where is the kissing scene with John (Abraham), the love scene with Neil (Nitin Mukesh)?' Did I say there were love-making scenes? The one really lengthy bedroom sequence I have was with Irrfan (Khan) and that was done in a salwar-kameez. It was hardly pleasant. For the love-making sequence with Anu Kapoor, I wasn't even present on the sets," she said.

The near-seduction sequence with Vivaan Shah was also done with a body-double. And Priyanka selected the body!

"The bare back had to be that of a 50-year old woman. My back just wouldn't have worked. I was shown dozens of backs. I finally chose one that I thought would pass off one which I thought could be my back when I am 50. The hardest part of '7 Khoon Maaf' was ageing in front of the camera without props."

There was a lot of improvisation on location of "7 Khoon Maaf".

"That moment when I slap myself in front of the mirror? It wasn't even there in the script! I was supposed to break down in front of the mirror. I suggested I slap myself," said Priyanka, who is sure she cannot get into a role without preparation.

"I am doing 'Agneepath' and 'Barfee' back-to-back. I've set aside time for preparation. I expect a certain surprise element from myself in every role that I play," said the actress who wowed her fans with her performance in "Kaminey" and "Fashion". In fact, the latter fetched her first prestigious National Award.

The recent weeks have not been too easy on the former beauty queen, what with the income tax raid in her house and reports that Shahid Kapoor opened Priyanka's the door to the officials in his shorts.

Commenting on the incident, Priyanka said: "First of all, my maidservant opened the door for the officials. Yes, I did immediately call Shahid because he was the closest to me. My parents were in my other house.

"Shahid is my neighbour. He's five minutes away. He did come to help me out during the raid, as he would've for any other friend. But why would he be in his boxer shorts? I was very angry when I read this.

"The IT officials were very kind. But people who made up such stories were not too kind. I've parents whom I am accountable to when such stories come out," she said.