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The three B-town ladies have walked down the same road
So, Bollywood is seeing a surge of films that have women protagonists kicking some butt both literally and figuratively. Recently, there was the biopic Mary Kom and the coming of age film Queen.
While sequels are a favourite it's often seen that the heroes are a constant while the heroines change according to the whim of the director and producer. You've got the Housefull series, the Masti films, the Dhoom franchise and even the Munna Bhai movies. But now there seems to be a change. Sequels are being made with the heroines in mind.
The best example of this is the sequel to Tanu Weds Manu titled Tanu Weds Manu Returns. In Aanand L Rai's film, Kangana Ranaut reprises her role as Tanu. But looks like Aanand was so impressed with Kangana that he decided to have not one but two of her. She plays a double role. Keeping with Kangana's policy of choosing films where she is the main lead, Tanu Weds Manu Returns sees her opposite R Madhavan, a relatively lesser known face in Bollywood. So it's safe to say that like the original, the sequel too will lie on the talented shoulders of the Queen.
But that's not the only example. Next is Prakash Jha's Gangaajal. The original had Ajay Devgn playing a tough cop. But the sequel will be a woman-oriented one with Priyanka Chopra playing a no-nonsense police officer. The film goes on floors in May. Seems like Jha is trying something different since his last few films have not worked much and it looked like he was stuck in a formula of his own creation. Maybe he sensed the new wave in Bollywood and decided to have Priyanka play the lead in what we can expect to be a very hard-hitting film.
Add to this the sequel of Navdeep Singh's NH10 which is likely to be called NH12. Just goes to show how well the audience has accepted a film where the female lead (Anushka Sharma) refuses to play the damsel in distress. Are women-oriented sequels are here to stay? Time will tell.
Anupamaa
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