Aishwarya Rai's feminist icon status in movies - Page 2

Originally posted by: Maroonporsche

Rani has a good chance to win filmfare best actress popular this year. She’s won it twice before but this time at age 45/46 depending on when they have them she’d be oldest person to win 

Current record holder is her Nutan. She won an award at age 42

Originally posted by: Bloody-Mary

tabu won filmfare for bhool bhulaiyaa 2

That was best actress critics award

I’m discussing best actress popular 

Originally posted by: Maroonporsche

That was best actress critics award

I’m discussing best actress popular 

As much as I'd like Rani to win,I am afraid they will give the award to Alia for Rocky Rani considering her film was more successful Rani's.

And if Alia wins this year, then she will become the actress with most wins for Filmfare Best Actress Popular Award, beside Nutan and Kajol.

Originally posted by: Maroonporsche

Rani has a good chance to win filmfare best actress popular this year. She’s won it twice before but this time at age 45/46 depending on when they have them she’d be oldest person to win 

Current record holder is her Nutan. She won an award at age 42

There is something very shocking about the fact that the oldest winner could be only 45/46 for the Filmfare Best Actress. In contrast, the oldest winner for Best Actress at the Oscars is Jessica Tandy at 80 and there are other actresses who won at 50 or older. Rani is hardly old but she'd create a record.

Originally posted by: diasingh2

As much as I'd like Rani to win,I am afraid they will give the award to Alia for Rocky Rani considering her film was more successful Rani's.

And if Alia wins this year, then she will become the actress with most wins for Filmfare Best Actress Popular Award, beside Nutan and Kajol.

I find it very disturbing that Alia already has 4 Filmfare Awards. Even 2 at her age might be considered too much considering she's just hit 30 and there's the possibility she can get 5. If it's not Rocky aur Rani (and I hope it isn't) we all know she will be winning a 5th Filmfare sooner than later. Very gross considering the great actresses who don't have nearly as many.

Originally posted by: NoraSM

🤔

Zara was a feminist icon? I didn't know that 

For Veer Zaara I meant more Rani's role as a Pakistani lawyer who faces blowback due to her gender. But it can be argued that Zinta's role was feminist also, traveling to another country alone and unescorted to fulfill her Bebe's dying wish and scatter her ashes. In Veer's village she tells off Amitabh's character for only making a school for boys and not girls and he thanks her for opening his eyes on that. She spends the rest of her life dedicated to Veer's dream of running that school.

Originally posted by: RaniPreityAish

I find it very disturbing that Alia already has 4 Filmfare Awards. Even 2 at her age might be considered too much considering she's just hit 30 and there's the possibility she can get 5. If it's not Rocky aur Rani (and I hope it isn't) we all know she will be winning a 5th Filmfare sooner than later. Very gross considering the great actresses who don't have nearly as many.

To be honest, Filmfare lost credibility long ago.

In Alia's case, its her luck, lack of competition and strong support from KJo are the reasons behind her success. She deserved it for Gangubai and Raazi absolutely, but she didn't deserve to win for Gullyboy at all. There were many top contenders that year like Rani (Mardaani 2), Vidya (Misson Mangal) and Kangana (Manikarnika). They were all successful women-ledfilms at the BO. In fact, Yami should have won for Bala. It was such a lovely role and (dare I say) she overshadowed Ayushmaan in his own film. It sucks that Yami wasn't even nominated that year.

Even Alia's award for Udta Punjab is debatable. I don't like Sonam but I would've been happy if Sonam had won that year for Neerja, but she got the Critics award and Alia got the popular award. I think it should have been the other way round. Alia was good but she didn't carry Udta Punjab and there were other big players in the film.

I think as far as 2023 is concerned, Deepika is standing tall with Pathaan. She was THE female lead with a meaty role, and the film practically revived Bollywood. Its another thing that her image got tainted recently due to the whole KWK fiasco.

Coming to your topic, I understand your love for Rani, Preeti and Aish's roles in the early 2000s. I have a soft corner for them too, because my childhood is kinda associated with their films.

If I recall, Preeti was fairly recognized for her slightly unconventional roles in the early 2000s, and Rani was appreciated as well, (and so did Aishwarya) and they all emerged as strong performer too without having to be labelled as feminist icons.

People may have a problem because you are labeling those roles as "feminist roles", but that's exactly the thing. Feminism doesn't have to be in-your-face. I was never a fan of in-your-face or token feminism TBH.

All I remember from their films that, their roles were equally important and they were standing neck-to-neck with the men in their films (whether it was Khans, Akshay or Ajay or whoever). 

This was before the Khans discovered machoism and superstardom and started relegating their heroines to the background and that's why they moved to the younger lot of PC,Katrina,Bebo, Deepika etc. I miss the earlier era more..

As much as I like PC-Kat-Bebo, they never had an image of being an "equal" in Khan films (except a few).

Off course, the public consciousnesses and  public discourse also has changed and now even mediocre actress like Sonakshi and Sonam have 10+years of career. I wish this changed during the Rani-Preeti era

So it would be fair to say that, Rani/Preeti/Aish walked so PC/Vidya/Kangana could run.

Originally posted by: diasingh2

To be honest, Filmfare lost credibility long ago.

In Alia's case, its her luck, lack of competition and strong support from KJo are the reasons behind her success. She deserved it for Gangubai and Raazi absolutely, but she didn't deserve to win for Gullyboy at all. There were many top contenders that year like Rani (Mardaani 2), Vidya (Misson Mangal) and Kangana (Manikarnika). They were all successful women-ledfilms at the BO. In fact, Yami should have won for Bala. It was such a lovely role and (dare I say) she overshadowed Ayushmaan in his own film. It sucks that Yami wasn't even nominated that year.

 

Even Alia's award for Udta Punjab is debatable. I don't like Sonam but I would've been happy if Sonam had won that year for Neerja, but she got the Critics award and Alia got the popular award. I think it should have been the other way round. Alia was good but she didn't carry Udta Punjab and there were other big players in the film.

I think as far as 2023 is concerned, Deepika is standing tall with Pathaan. She was THE female lead with a meaty role, and the film practically revived Bollywood. Its another thing that her image got tainted recently due to the whole KWK fiasco.

KJo heavily campaigning for Alia is definitely the main factor into all her wins. The lack of any new talent to pose a threat is also an issue and the fact that many of Alia's contemporaries fizzled out like Parineeti. Gangubai is the only one I feel she really deserved. She was good in Raazi but I don't feel she was entitled to that win especially not when Rani's Hichki came out the same year. Even if Alia is the best out of her age croup (which is not saying much), her performances still pale to the veteran actresses who are still around and delivering superb performances. The Gully Boy win was unnecessary and so was Udta Punjab. I am not a Sonam fan either but I agree that Neerja was her best performance and I was surprisingly enough glad that she got the Critics Award. I also agree that it would have made more sense for Alia to win the Critics Award that year instead. 

Deepika's presence in Jawan certainly left an impact on audiences but did she have enough screentime to earn a nomination for Best Actress? I'm still leaning towards Rani winning especially since the day when actors and actresses who were in the highest grossing film would win, like in the 90s, has been over for a long time. Rani has been nominated multiple times in the last decade but hasn't won in forever and I think this latest role is her strongest chance to win a new Filmfare.

Originally posted by: diasingh2

Coming to your topic, I understand your love for Rani, Preeti and Aish's roles in the early 2000s. I have a soft corner for them too, because my childhood is kinda associated with their films.

If I recall, Preeti was fairly recognized for her slightly unconventional roles in the early 2000s, and Rani was appreciated as well, (and so did Aishwarya) and they all emerged as strong performer too without having to be labelled as feminist icons.

People may have a problem because you are labeling those roles as "feminist roles", but that's exactly the thing. Feminism doesn't have to be in-your-face. I was never a fan of in-your-face or token feminism TBH.

All I remember from their films that, their roles were equally important and they were standing neck-to-neck with the men in their films (whether it was Khans, Akshay or Ajay or whoever). 

This was before the Khans discovered machoism and superstardom and started relegating their heroines to the background and that's why they moved to the younger lot of PC,Katrina,Bebo, Deepika etc. I miss the earlier era more..

As much as I like PC-Kat-Bebo, they never had an image of being an "equal" in Khan films (except a few).

Off course, the public consciousnesses and  public discourse also has changed and now even mediocre actress like Sonakshi and Sonam have 10+years of career. I wish this changed during the Rani-Preeti era

So it would be fair to say that, Rani/Preeti/Aish walked so PC/Vidya/Kangana could run.

Preity was the first to get recognized for taking unconventional roles that defied societal expectations and norms. Especially her trilogy of pregnancy movies with Kya Kehna, Chori Chori Chupke Chupke, and Salaam Namaste. It was close to her offscreen persona as well since she was very outspoken and not afraid to stand up to hypocrisy or threats like the Underworld. In contrast, Rani's offscreen life was very private as she was a recluse and Aishwarya was more embroiled in her messy romantic relationships.

By feminist icons, they were not necessarily branded with the feminist label, but they were all considered at the time to take what were then daring and trailblazing roles. Films like Saathiya and Chalte Chalte would not be defined as feminist in the stereotypical sense, but those movies were groundbreaking for showing what life was like for the romantic couples of movies after marriage and how the story does not end after the wedding. These were all solid roles for actresses that could still be glamorous and romantic and involve dancing around on mountaintops in sarees but have substance attached as well. I feel with the 2010s, the film parts became less romantic and I remember Juhi said this in an interview as well that she missed the classic love stories of her era.

And I agree that the roles these women took were always ones that were equally as important as the Khans or whoever the male lead was. Salman Khan's female co-star in the 2000s used to actually be significant up until the Dabangg era where he revamped his image. Aamir Khan seemed to give up on starring in films where the female lead was as significant as him by the 2000s, with Fanaa being an exception. Shahrukh is still the best when it comes to giving his female co-star a good role but in the last few years even that has begun to change especially the more he has shifted to action films. It's ironic that Shahrukh only started his trend of billing his female co-star above his name now when really the better female parts for his actresses were back in the late 90s/2000s. 

I don't completely agree that the newer crop of actresses always have worse roles though. I think Deepika is a good example of an actress who generally only takes roles that are as strong as the male lead and even in something like Jawan, she proved that with minimal screentime, she's one of the most celebrated and remembered parts of the film. Katrina's roles tend to be more lightweight now but that's in part because she generally does not have the range to play much drama and sticks to action roles. Even then, her films with Shahrukh did give her relatively meaty roles whereas with Salman, she's reverted to dancing or action scenes. Kareena imo is the biggest offender of an actress who works with the Khans just to claim that she was part of a major hit/blockbuster, even when her own role is minimal and sometimes nonexistent. In Bajrangi Bhaijan, Kareena's only part was for the chicken song and she was basically absent for the second half of the movie. I also feel that she never had good chemistry with any of the Khans, especially when you compare her to Karishma, Rani, Preity, etc. 

It is a pity though that the 90s/2000s actresses were still caught up in the old traditions that married actresses must retire or that a heroine's shelf-life is only 5-10 years. The actresses of today have the benefit of the success of these women to justify still working in multiple decades even if they lack the talent. At least streaming has been a new outlet for many of the 90s actresses to return to the screen in some shape or form. Their presence is much missed especially to save us from the "actresses" we have today.