Directors on The Definitive 70mm Woman

Four acclaimed contemporary filmmakers tell us which recent role they think definitively portrays the modern Indian woman.

Bollywood films are laughed at for many things, and their portrayal of women is something that's had the women laughing, fuming and throwing up their hands in despair many times. The maa and the behen and everything in between have been fodder for jokes in almost every sitcom on the telly for aeons.

If the word 'stereotype' had been invented for a purpose, it was served in 70mm proportions in Bollywood. And even though between all that, there have been 'reality' sparklers, like Arth - or the face of Smita Patil that's always, for the older generation of cinegoers, the gritty woman character of Indian cinema - that one definitive role, like Nargis' Mother India, eludes feminist filmmaking among the contemporary filmmakers.

The debate rages on about whether the current 'freedom' and the choice our actresses have when it comes to roles is a result of social changes. But while the size-zero-be-damned Vidya Balan has become the 'thinking' movie buff's Tina Fey, we ask the makers of contemporary woman-centric flicks what, according to them, is that one definitive woman's role in the films of these days that they can instantly recall, and why.

Sujoy Ghosh (Kahaani): Dolly Ahluwalia's role in Vicky Donor
How to define 'definitive' - that is the question here. It all depends on that balance between writing and performing. Sridevi's character in English Vinglish, for example, was beautifully written and performed. Never once does the character try to break the mould - she doesn't transform into a western clothes-wearing diva - and yet with great dignity, she liberates herself in her own way. Parineeti Chopra in Ishaqzaade was another role I remember. But most of all, if the role has to be about breaking stereotypes, setting a trend, and at the same time endearing, it has to be the role of the mother, essayed by Dolly Ahluwalia in Vicky Donor. It is a very well-defined role of a woman and her life, what she has been through, and how she has handled it. It is one of the most clearly etched out roles in Indian cinema. In this sense, on a larger note, last year was incredible. And full marks to the newcomers - Huma Qureshi, Richa Chadda, Ileana in Barfi! and Yami in Vicky Donor.

Gauri Shinde (English Vinglish): Tabu in Chandni Bar
She immediately came to my mind the moment you said 'definitive role'. I think at that point in time, when Tabu took this role, there weren't many movies with women in the lead, and this is not a role that many would have taken on. But Tabu was fine in it, she got the shades of the character right, the emotions right, she was just there, on the surface, all the time. She looked real, and that made her desolation all the more poignant. This role made an immediate impact on me. The other one, in more recent times, of course, is that of the mother in Vicky Donor. She and the grandmother. They take the cake, hats off to Juhi (the scriptwriter of Vicky Donor); the characters were written superbly. Also, the casting was fresh, and that freshness rubbed off on the characters too. But every cinematic impact is a good combination of writing and performance, and without being boastful, I think that that's what worked for English Vinglish, too.

Milan Luthria (The Dirty Picture): Vidya Balan in The Dirty Picture
I would have to choose my own film. Normally, I wouldn't. But the definitive aspect of the character is her inner strength. This was one thing that we were constantly talking about, trying to bring it to the surface, make it a tangible presence in the film. And Vidya did it beautifully. The fact that most of the world was against her most of the time never deterred her. She was a woman who takes the world on her chin, has spark and spunk in the face of all the challenges women face. In our film, we treated the woman as the hero. She was not to show a soppy, sad, weepy woman, but someone who laughed and smiled through it all. Just like the definitive woman of today.

Zoya Akhtar (Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara): Vidya Balan in Kahaani
Definitive woman role? Do such roles exist? Does the audience want to see them? No, they don't. I am digressing from the point, but even the heroines in Bollywood, when you approach them, the first question they ask is who is the hero. That is why there is so little of the genre out there that you go looking for them. So, if you want the audience to see the movie, if it has to work, it has to have men in the lead. This is a given. And these woman-oriented films - the minute you think of them, you need to lower the budget. That is why I look all the more at Vidya Balan and her two definitive roles, in both Kahaani and The Dirty Picture. More so in Kahaani. She was superb.

Awesome. Hats off to her. And more than the role, she managed to make something happen - she took less money, made these films, made them work. That is the definitive here. And there's reality too - in every woman-oriented film, I don't understand why we work towards liberating the woman. In Kahaani, she's a woman on a mission. It is accomplished, and she is back to work, her usual self. Just that.