When Alia Bhatt delivers a fiery speech in the climax of Gangubai Kathiawadi, she doesn’t just demand basic human rights for sex workers on screen. She reminds the audience in the theatre that if a talented actress is handed a solid script and a brilliant character, she can create magic at the box office. Gangubai Kathiawadi, as we speak, is inching closer to Rs 100 crore in a post-pandemic box office, despite restricted seating in many theatres, and a woman leading the story.
Bhansali’s first film sans hero
Sanjay Leela Bhansali waited seven years to make Gangubai Kathiawadi, and 17 years for Alia Bhatt to be ready to face the camera in his film. It is the director’s first film without a hero per se (Black still had Amitabh Bachchan). It has taken a maverick like him over 25 years to give that kind of importance to a woman in front of the camera (his directorial debut was with Khamoshi in 1996). That itself is proof of the slow evolution of Indian commercial cinema in terms of gender representation. Nonetheless, Gangubai is an example of cinema making more space for women and their stories, and the box office numbers show that the audience is ready for it.
Gangubai in theatres, Gehraiyaan on OTT
While Gangubai has managed to lure movie lovers to the theatre, Deepika Padukone’s Gehraiyaan has been creating a lot of buzz in the OTT space. Deepika is not only the senior-most among the lead actors of the movie, she is also the most bankable one. The film’s storyline might have evoked mixed reactions, but Deepika’s screen presence and mature performance has impressed many. It surely is one of the biggest recent Bollywood films to have released on OTT.
Delhi Crime to The Fame Game, the web has more space for women
OTT has been experimenting with women-centric content for a while now, thanks to lesser risk in terms of finances, and an evolved, intelligent audience base. Shefali Shah’s Delhi Crime and Human, Rasika Dugal’s Out of Love are testament to the fact that you don’t necessarily need guns and gaalis to make a successful thriller.
In the past year, we have also seen some of the top actresses in Bollywood venture into OTT space with roles tailormade for them. in Aranyak, Raveena Tandon took on the role of a police officer in a small town in the hills, Madhuri Dixit reminded gave us an insider’s view of the life of a Bollywood heroine in The Fame Game.
Taapsee Pannu, Vidya Balan continue to hold fort
Be it on OTT or in theatrical releases, some actresses have stuck to their conviction of taking on projects with a woman at the centre. During the pandemic, Vidya Balan had two significant releases on OTT – Shakuntala Devi and Sherni – both stories about strong women proving their worth in a man’s world. After Thappad, which opened in theatres just before the pandemic, Taapsee has led three films released on OTT – Haseen Dillruba, Rashmi Rocket and Looop Lapeta.
Commercial cinema has always been dominated by men. Big bucks are still being bet on the name of a male superstar who seems to guarantee returns. Tent-pole movies, across film industries in India and abroad, are typically led by men. But the recent success stories make us hopeful that in the near future, gender representation on screen will be normalized to a point where we won’t have to tag films as ‘women-centric’ anymore.
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