I want to produce a film with a strong female character: Akshay Kumar

If actresses like Deepika Padukone, Kangana Ranaut, Vidya Balan, and Anushka Sharma have made it a point to pick movies with author-backed roles, superstars like Akshay Kumar, Shah Rukh Khan and Aamir Khan are doing their bit to support films with strong female characters at its core. While Aamir produced Secret Superstar, which was about the ambitions of a young aspiring singer and her relationship with her mother, SRK starred in Dear Zindagi that revolved around Alia Bhatt's character. Akshay, too, lent support to Naam Shabana, which was a spin-off based on Taapsee Pannu's character in Baby.

Talking about this change, Akshay says, "It's time the industry as a whole started giving that respect to our actresses. A film isn't complete without a hero. Similarly, movies can't be made without the heroine either. I would happily do these roles whenever necessary. He reveals that right after Airlift released, he was in talks with his co-star Nimrat Kaur for a project. "I remember we had spoken about it but it didn't work out, he says.

The superstar, who has a martial arts school and promotes self-defence among young girls and women, admits that he's looking forward to "making a film with a strong woman-oriented subject. He avers, "As an actor and a producer, I get a lot of scripts every day. Some of them are good, others aren't. Recently, there was a script, which dealt with the topic of dowry, which I really liked. But you have to get everything right, and that hasn't happened yet. It's almost like fishing where you cast your net and wait... Sometimes you get something outstanding, sometimes you don't. But yes, my team and I have discussed the idea of making a powerful film with a strong female character.