Does Bollywood often take actresses for granted?

Oh, those beautiful women! The ones decked up, dancing to peppy tunes, delivering power-packed or super sentimental dialogues, making (or screwing) your weekend evenings.

Wait! A film’s lead actress (or a ‘heroine’ as you put it) is more than a showpiece and does not merely exist to tickle your interest in the film. Ideally, she should be given as much importance as the lead actor gets. How sad, the reality is often the opposite.

It is very recently that a new trend called ‘women-centric films’ is making its presence felt. Otherwise, for a long span now, the Indian audience is used to films where the story, be it tragic or heroic, solely revolves around the hero and the heroine (we prefer to call her the lead actress though) is a catalyst to the story. This is not only an unfair practice but also does sheer injustice to a performer’s potential. Or is it the notion that a woman can’t pull a film alone?

Out of this very notion, a disparity in treatment towards an actor and an actress still exists. You would often come across films where alongside a superstar, a relatively lesser known actress is roped in. Quite obviously, the hero grabs all the limelight and the actress is happy with her little share of fame.

This backfires in more than one ways. Ashutosh Gowariker’s latest film ‘Mohenjo Daro’ sank at the box office without making any mark and many amongst the audience found newcomer Pooja Hegde to be a disappointment. Because she was a newcomer? No, because she was simply overshadowed and had little to perform. The makers probably thought Roshan’s name would do all the wonders, which it did not. The same happened with Shah Rukh Khan’s ‘Fan’. None among Waluscha De Sousa, Sayani Gupta and Shriya Pilgaonkar had anything to do in the film, let alone pulling the film over. It was a screenplay dominated by SRK alone and still did not manage to survive.

Bollywood has witnessed many debutantes and a number of them have made it big in the industry. Deepika Padukone, Anushka Sharma and Parineeti Chopra are examples for you. There is certainly something common in their debut films. All these ladies were given adequate opportunities to perform and prove themselves. On the other hand, you have Gracy Singh who despite debuting opposite a superstar like Aamir Khan never had her shot to fame. Same happened to Sneha Ullal who made her dream debut opposite Salman Khan in ‘Lucky – No Time For Love’ but could make no place herself for her in the industry. You want examples where the actress’ contribution was as crucial as the actor? Take the two latest hits ‘Sultan’ and ‘Rustom’. Moral of the story? Let the actress perform. You have money to invest in the actor? Care to invest in the actress too. Find talents, nurture talents.

On a larger note, this is not a debate to bring the actresses more spotlight. It is about demanding the makers to bring about a parity in portrayal of characters and giving them equal space to establish their respective roles.

An equality we can only dream of.

Ranjini Maitra

Journalist. Writer. Reader. Enthu cutlet. Mood-swing machine. Day dreamer. Sandwiched between ‘live life fully’ and ‘lose some weight’. Mantra of life: Love and love more.