Continuing my previous post about 'everlasting heroes', I must mention the 'everlasting effervescent heroines' too. This description is especially limited to Indian movies. Heroines or the female lead actors in Indian movies are the casualty of the chauvinistic film world in India. Most heroines may be intelligent, talented and accomplished young women in real life and yet they start their career playing the chirpy, bubbly roles that the audience supposedly asks for. All leading actresses, whether it is Deepika Padukone or Priyanka Chopra or Katrina kaif, become famous for their over hyped, glamorous, frivolous roles on screen. Once they hit the magic age of 35, they just disappear from the film world. Some of them, if they are lucky, come back as 'comeback queens' or appear in television ads. The best example of a 'comeback queen' is Sridevi but we have to wait and see if she gets any more 'heroine' roles. Even Sridevi had to play a number of squeaky, chirpy roles before she established herself as a star in Hindi cinema.
It is a pity that the modern young woman of today is yet to be portrayed as someone who is in search of her own identity. She is lost trying to find the perfect man to complete her life. In order to make breezy entertainers like 'HJKJ" or "KBKBKBKB" or our heroines are shown as independent, headstrong girls up to the point at which they sing their first duet with the hero. They appear in modern outfits to show how modern their 'outlook' is initially. But by the end of the movie they graduate to more modest outfits to show how committed they are to their heroes. We do find this kind of stereotyping in the west, where actresses like Julia Roberts are typecast in the role of the romantic heroine. But atleast Julia Roberts got some chances to show her acting potential by playing different roles after she became a star (Pelican Brief, Mona Lisa Smile, Eat Pray Love, to name a few).
Women face many challenges in their daily lives, whether it is in managing their family life or facing harassment in public spaces or finding their foot in the corporate ladder. But Indian directors seem to think that the middle class working woman's struggle is not really attractive and cannot be packaged along with designer labels. I wish they realise how wrong they are. Go to any mall and you can see that the maximum sales is made by working women who wish to spend their disposable income on non-essential items.
A few movies like 'Wake up Sid' (hindi) focus on the dilemma women face about their professional and personal life. If the woman is interested in a career she is shown as being extremely dominating and stubborn. Very rarely do you see the actresses play subtle roles of strong determined women.With movies like 'Kahani' becoming famous, I hope we find many more talented actresses like Vidya Balan who give a bold new face to the Indian heroine. I am glad that Vidya Balan was chosen to be the one to be representing India in the Cannes Jury team. I hope it gives her more offers from directors with stories centred around strong, independent women.
It is a pity that the modern young woman of today is yet to be portrayed as someone who is in search of her own identity. She is lost trying to find the perfect man to complete her life. In order to make breezy entertainers like 'HJKJ" or "KBKBKBKB" or our heroines are shown as independent, headstrong girls up to the point at which they sing their first duet with the hero. They appear in modern outfits to show how modern their 'outlook' is initially. But by the end of the movie they graduate to more modest outfits to show how committed they are to their heroes. We do find this kind of stereotyping in the west, where actresses like Julia Roberts are typecast in the role of the romantic heroine. But atleast Julia Roberts got some chances to show her acting potential by playing different roles after she became a star (Pelican Brief, Mona Lisa Smile, Eat Pray Love, to name a few).
Women face many challenges in their daily lives, whether it is in managing their family life or facing harassment in public spaces or finding their foot in the corporate ladder. But Indian directors seem to think that the middle class working woman's struggle is not really attractive and cannot be packaged along with designer labels. I wish they realise how wrong they are. Go to any mall and you can see that the maximum sales is made by working women who wish to spend their disposable income on non-essential items.
A few movies like 'Wake up Sid' (hindi) focus on the dilemma women face about their professional and personal life. If the woman is interested in a career she is shown as being extremely dominating and stubborn. Very rarely do you see the actresses play subtle roles of strong determined women.With movies like 'Kahani' becoming famous, I hope we find many more talented actresses like Vidya Balan who give a bold new face to the Indian heroine. I am glad that Vidya Balan was chosen to be the one to be representing India in the Cannes Jury team. I hope it gives her more offers from directors with stories centred around strong, independent women.
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