Bollywood has always been obsessed with the male power and actresses in the industry have been fighting for recognition over the years. But gone are those days when there was a shelf life of actresses as this time, things were different. 2016 was the year of some powerful performances by leading ladies of Bollywood, combined well with some good stories.
In the male dominated industry, things have started changing, slowly and gradually. ‘Queen’, ‘Akira’, ‘Mardaani’ and ‘Tanu Weds Manu’ portrayed females as the protagonists. These movies not received good words from critics but had decent earning at box office.
Gladly, the hard work of actresses was appreciated in the recently concluded 62nd Filmfare Awards.
Filmfare night was the proof that the new era for leading ladies has begun. Needless to say, there is lot more to come from these charismatic Bollywood beauties.
When Actress Sonam Kapoor made her debut in the industry, no one would have ever thought that the lady who was constantly being criticised by the critics will ever won the Critics' Award For Best Actor (Female). But, this happened, all thanks to her portrayal of ‘Neerja’. The credit of this should also go to the director Ram Madhvani who chose a brave script.
‘Neerja’ swept five awards in the starry night.
The role of Bihari migrant portrayed by actress Alia Bhatt came as a pleasing surprise to movie buffs. The lady not only received praises for her acting but her performance was termed as one of the best performances in the multi starrer film. Alia was honoured with the Filmfare Best Actor Award.
‘Dangal’ the story of a father who wanted to make his daughters wresting champions narrated the tale of women empowerment. It’s huge box-office is not hidden from anyone and in Filmfare awards also it begged three major awards.
When Hollywood can’t remain untouched with our beauties, how can our own industry not respect them? Priyanka Chopra took the West by storm when she appeared in American thriller series ‘Quantico’. On the other hand, even Vin Diesel couldn’t stop singing Deepika Padukone’s praises when she made her debut with him in ‘xXx: Return of Xander Cage’.
However, when it comes to pay cheques women and still paid less than their male counterpart.
In the last few years, the streets of Bollywood witness the issue of equal pay. There is no denying that good numbers have been offered to male actors but several female artists have opined their views on this.
Recently, Filmmaker Karan Johar revealed the reason why Kareena Kapoor was replaced by Priety Zinta in ‘Kal Ho Naa Ho’. He stated that Bebo demanded same amount that was being offered to the superstar Shah Rukh Khan. Thus, the director said sorry and casted Priety.
Few months back, actress Sonam Kapoor revealed that she and Kareena had to cut their fees for ‘Veera Di Wdding’ owing to some budget issues. The former beauty queen Aishwarya Rai Bachchan also said in the past that people should now put their words to action as far as pay parity is concerned. Thus, there has always been huge difference in the remuneration of actors and actresses.
Thus, there is a hope in coming years that actresses won’t be having complaints of better roles and pay parity.
