Gender switching in Bollywood - would they work?

hey guys,
i was reading a blog the other day and the blogger had made a very intersting observation in an article titled "What if Rancho was Radhika?"...and it talked abt successful films wherin the male characters were replaced by female characters. But would they have worked?

Say 3 idiots and DCH was a films abt female bonding, would they still have been such cults? I feel DCH with female chracters would be a very interesting watch because it is so rare to see a film which depicts female friendships well, in bollywood. Imagine ambar replacing akash , sameera replacing sameer , sonia replacing sid. It would be fun to see a flirtatious ambar who is always pulling everyones leg, a love stuck sammera who wears her heart on her sleeve, a mature sonia who falls for an older man; and the bonding between the three...similarly in 3 idiots, if rancho, farhan and raju were gals, would the film still have been the blockbuster it is today?

Similarly, say a film like dostana, what if it was about 2 women pretending to be lesbians, having a crush on the same guy and fighting for him. would have been a truly bold move in bollywood. A lot of people might not digest the fact, and wouldnt like it. But dunt u think it would be much more interesting and different than dostana which re-did all the gay stereotypes?But would it work?

what if cheeni kum was about a haughty female chef, who finds love in a much younger wisecracking man?People would probably find it too icky and perhaps even disgusting, but i reckon it would be a bold/interesting move.

Also, what if it was Simran who went after her Raj in DDLJ? or Suman who had to prove her love for prem in MPK? would these films still have worked? What if Kkrish was abt a female superhero like supergirl or wonderwoman, would it have worked? personally I would love see all of these films because it would be a refreshing to watch an assertive female character, which makes her own decisions and has her own brain rather than just pining for her lover.

I once remember reading somewhere that K3G was intially the story of 2 daughters with the elder one being the adopted daughter (srk) and the younger one trying to unite her with the family after a crisis. But then KJo felt that a male centric story would work better and would be commercially viable. I would love to see such a movie because this would show some real drama and give flesh and bone to the female characters in k3g rather than them just being there to romance the men. But do you think it would work commercialy? are we ready to accept female centric films?

so post ur views about what u think gender switching might do to succesful films. would it still work? which ones would work and which ones wouldn't? which ones might interest u?

i am no hardcore feminist, but just thought tht this would be an interesting topic for discussion. :)
So dont bring in any "my-celebrity-is-better-than-yours" fights here plzz!

Very intriguing topic ;)

In response to your questions, I seriously doubt that the movies above would have as great a following if they were female-centric. DCH with females might have worked considering people wanted change but I doubt that many would take to a woman actively pursuing an older man or a flirtatious woman without the both of them being touted to be harlots or other such derogatory words. Ditto for Cheeni Kum with female instead. Old man - young woman is fine to a majority of the audience because a lot of them (especially the younger lot) define relationships in terms of the man - that is, the structural influence of the romance is dependent SOLELY on the man - his age, his desires etc, not his and the woman's, as it should be. I would have adored seeing Cheeni Kum with female chef though. That would have been just as entertaining as the one with the male chef because, IMO, the characters weren't cardboard cutouts but had actual personalities.

As far as Dostana is concerned - that was a pseudo-gay "comedy" (more like homophobic slurs, to be honest). If the pseudo-gay couple had been a pseudo-lesbian couple, the movie wouldn't have worked, because don't you see? It's funny when men act to be gay - they aren't really gay because they sleep around!! but when women act sexually toward other women, even if it is pretend, it's uncomfortabe to laugh at, and it provides less comic relief. N.B - I don't suscribe to these views. I think any combination of relationships of men and women are totally acceptable.

I think if more movies were to become female-centric - or even give females with a relatively *decent* role, provided that they had a cohesive script, I would surely be interested because frankly, I'm tired of watching cardboard cutout 1-D female characters in 3-D push-up bras. It's either that or an astonishingly dim stereotypical "chick flick" where twue wuv will make it through no matter what and the female characters' thought progression consists of "I hate him. OMG He's sexy, I like him. I wanna have his babies". Come on. Women are more complex than that. I understand not every female character can be an Ellen Ripley but, in most mainstream Hindi movies, females have roughly two neurons that rarely work. Moreover, there's no correlation with real life! Women don't go around wearing dupattas so men can get themselves tangled in it, a lot of them are capable of acting in self-defense when attacked by the evil villain and not all are total klutz that present with loss of coordination. Women have flaws, ambitions, desires that are rarely explored nowadays because most directors are too busy paying someone to find the shortest La Perla bikini for their main female leads to try it. Personally, I'd be inclined to watch movies that portray realistic females (i.e., with a personality independent of the hero and with character flaws a la Mandi, Kathaa or Arth), even if they aren't dominant or strong.

Originally posted by: ShadowKisses

Very intriguing topic ;)

In response to your questions, I seriously doubt that the movies above would have as great a following if they were female-centric. DCH with females might have worked considering people wanted change but I doubt that many would take to a woman actively pursuing an older man or a flirtatious woman without the both of them being touted to be harlots or other such derogatory words. Ditto for Cheeni Kumwith female instead.Old man - young woman is fine to a majority of the audience because a lot of them (especially the younger lot) define relationships in terms of the man - that is, the structural influence of the romance is dependent SOLELY on the man - his age, his desires etc, nothis and the woman's, as it should be. I would have adored seeing Cheeni Kum with female chef though. That would have been just as entertaining as the one with the male chef because, IMO, the characters weren't cardboard cutouts but had actual personalities.

As far as Dostana is concerned - that was a pseudo-gay "comedy" (more like homophobic slurs, to be honest). If the pseudo-gay couple had been a pseudo-lesbian couple, the movie wouldn't have worked, because don't you see? It's funny when men act to be gay - they aren't really gay because they sleep around!! but when women act sexually toward other women, even if it is pretend, it's uncomfortabe to laugh at, and it provides less comic relief. N.B - I don't suscribe to these views. I think any combination of relationships of men and women are totally acceptable.

I think if more movies were to become female-centric - or even give females with a relatively *decent* role, provided that they had a cohesive script, I would surely be interested because frankly, I'm tired of watching cardboard cutout 1-D female characters in 3-D push-up bras. It's either that or an astonishingly dim stereotypical "chick flick" where twue wuv will make it through no matter what and the female characters' thought progression consists of "I hate him. OMG He's sexy, I like him. I wanna have his babies". Come on. Women are more complex than that. I understand not every female character can be an Ellen Ripley but, in most mainstream Hindi movies, females have roughly two neurons that rarely work. Moreover, there's no correlation with real life! Women don't go around wearing dupattas so men can get themselves tangled in it, a lot of them are capable of acting in self-defense when attacked by the evil villain and not all are total klutz that present with loss of coordination. Women have flaws, ambitions, desires that are rarely explored nowadays because most directors are too busy paying someone to find the shortest La Perla bikini for their main female leads to try it. Personally, I'd be inclined to watch movies that portray realistic females (i.e., with a personality independent of the hero and with character flaws a la Mandi, Kathaa or Arth), even if they aren't dominant or strong.

i agree with your points that those films might not have worked if they were female centric...and i do also believe that the notion of romance is solely dependent on the man as it is him who brings the much needed chemistry into the pair. Most of the passion and intensity is bought by the man, while women merely are shown to be the "recievers" of this love. While they do reciprocate the feelings of the man, they don't really show the way he does. ..which makes their characterisations a bit passive. Nevertheless...gr8 points! I do believe women need three dimensional characters in muvies, the last example being dev d, wherein both paro and chanda were assertive, bold, strong and independent of the character changes dev goes through.

bollywood is unfortunately male centric...so its obvious tht the following thoughts will not work in movies...

It is interesting that movies that are women centric fail, and Indian TV shows revolving around men fail.

I have always wondered about this, thanks for posting it! 😊 Bollywood is completely male centered, none of these movies would work if it had women in them. Most women roles are just candy floss, not at all performance oriented which is why poor actresses like Katrina or even Deepika succeed in this industry.