Women centric films in bollywood...do they work?

There's a perception in btwon that an actress cannot deliver a hit film on her shoulders without the aid of a strong male lead.

Its highly subjective. I mean we have had women centric films before which have been successful criticially, maybe not so much commercially....like all of madhur bhandarkar films, astitva, black, guddi (jaya bacchan's debut film), dushman etc....and now in the future we have aisha, WAF and saat khoon maaf coming up and people seem pretty excited abt it although they are predominantly female centric films. So i do think we have accepted well made female centric films in the past.

However, i guess there are limitations which exist for female centric films in bollywood. I think ekta kapoors line in an interview of hers sums it up brilliantly "In cinema, its males u idolize and female u fantasize abt, in TV its just the opposite"...
Women centric themes dominate television more than our cinema because the target audience there is regular, middle class housewives and working women, not their husbands or children.

When it cums to films, u have to cater to a larger market to be commercially successful , which is why I guess our films are dominated by the male actors most of the time. But women still have something to do in Bollywood. They can make a mark even in a male centric film, case in point Priyanka in Kaminey, or kareena in Kurbaan, or soha in RDB.

Im so glad that there has been a change in how women are shown on screen...I mean in the 80's and 90's...there were some really perverse depictions of women, objectifying them to the core and making them appear like air heads. But todays female characters are strong minded and contain substance, which is probably why the word "heroine" is gradually being replaced by "actress".

But I dont generally mean women centric films as in just the subject. But i mean the CASTING. And whether htey can be COMMERCIALLY successful.

yeh i agree with that. But i guess once we imagine a film with only female actors...we as an audience, categorize it into either a heavy "women liberation" type film (like asititva, or madhur's films) or a chick flick (like aisha or Pyaar impossible)....i doubt if boys or men, would like to watch either of them on the big screen. The target audience for the female centric film is too narrow to make good box office collections. But male centric films like DCH and 3 idiots are massive hits because they cater towards both the sexes in the audience. Women centric films have limited appeal whereas male centric films have universal appeal. Let me put it this way: girls can patronize a Kaminey (male centric film)...but guys cannot patronize an astitva(female centric film)...its just the mindset. They dunt relate to the things shown in a women centric film. Very few guys appreciate such films, which is probably why they are box office failures.

I agree, and its sad. Tha'ts exactly what i was wondering.

i dun understand y a woman can't be the main character without it being a issue based film--in which they show a woman's life is so pathetic!

Originally posted by: desigal90

There's a perception in btwon that an actress cannot deliver a hit film on her shoulders without the aid of a strong male lead.

I used to argue against that fact, but the more I think about it, the more I realize that in the past...that's just how its been.

i think it can, just good director and a good script is needed, we can make women centric films and they can work

Originally posted by: ShadowKisses

I have to disagree about the past aspect, at the very least. I would cite Rekha and Sridevi as examples of women who have carried movies on their shoulders without the help of a strong male lead. Rekha's Khoon Bhari Maang or Khoobsurat are two movies I can think of at the top of my head- neither movie had particularly strong male actors if I recall correctly - the first had Kabir Bedi who was never a raging success and the second had Rakesh Roshan, a run-off-the-mill actor. As for Sridevi, the woman literally did carry most movies on her shoulders. Chaalbaaz, Roop Ki Rani Chooron Ka Raja, Chandni, Nagina, Sadma, Laadla (arguably the first anti-heroine to ever grace mainstream Bollywood) etc. None of these movies had actors who were big superstars (or in the case of Chaalbaaz & Sadma - didn't have actors who were superstars in the North) but they all were hits.

In part, the commercial failure of female-centric movies has to do with the fact that the actresses today just don't have the alluring kind of attraction Rekha/Sridevi or even Madhuri did but that's a harsh assessment especially when you take into consideration how rare female-centric movies are in mainstream-Bollywood. I can't name the last female-centric movie that came out of Bollywood that was not touted to be for a niche audience. I would say a lot more of the blame rests with a greater part of the audience who take in the crappy female characters most mainstream directors or writers seem to be writing these days. I suppose it is a lot easier (and financially profitable) to portray the female leads as scantily-clad ornaments because that's what most of the audience seems to be clamouring for so why would they (as in the directors or writers) look beyond making quick money?

Something I think contributes to the audience preferring mindless drones to strong female characters is that a lot of the writers, especially those who write the trash that is more well-known as comedy these days, don't even know how to write realistic strong female characters. Take Kambhakt Ishq for instance. Their idea of a strong female character is a woman who is emotionally cold, spiteful, educated, beautiful, career-oriented, thinks love is foolish and so on. Is she strong? Yes. Female? Yes. A character? Grudgingly so, yes. A strong female character? Not so much. Most writers tend to forget that the female part is secondary - you need to have a strong character to begin with; it should be more Strong Character who happens to be a female rather than Strong Female, who happens to be a character. I can't explain that very well but I'll try: Strong Character as in having ambitions that extend beyond making babies, and having character flaws, not a scantily-clad sexed up cardboard cut out that shouts STRONG FEMALE, when the character really isn't one.

As for the question you asked WRT Aishwarya, Kareena, Priyanka, I think there's a high probabilty it won't turn into a blockbuster because a) the majority of the audience is far too critical of the actresses' personal lives to go support their movies, b) the females still enjoy less star power than the males, c) traditional (read regressive) notions that the structural influence of a romance comes from the male might prevent audience from going to movies which have bigger female stars, and d) a great part of audience is partial to most male actors, giving them leeway when they rip the females for doing the same thing.

yeh the female actors just need to be good enough for a movie to be based on their character!

I thought Fashion of Priyanka was a hit.

Kaajol also has the power to carry a film on her shoulder. She did it with Gupt .

If the film is Good, actress has played well and gets recognition, then if the film is not a hit, it is completely viewers fault. WHy the do not want watch the film?