Hema Malini says author-backed roles still ‘reserved’ for male actors: ‘Amitabh Bachchan gets great roles written for him’

Hema Malini was last seen in filmmaker Ramesh Sippy’s romantic comedy, Shimla Mirchi, in 2020. The actor says she is waiting to "explore" different roles but nobody has offered her anything substantial.

Actor Hema Malini says she is hungry for good roles. (Photo: Hema Malini, Amitabh Bachchan/Instagram)

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The OTT revolution in the country may have helped in better content being made, but has it truly helped female actors? Veteran star Hema Malini believes, not really. The actor laments that despite the boom of streaming platforms, female actors still don’t have powerful parts written for them.

According to Malini, while female stars struggle to find author-backed roles, male actors have it fairly easy as such parts are still “reserved” for them. Citing the example of Amitabh Bachchan, Malini said roles are specially written for the megastar, a privilege which no one else enjoys.

“Where are the opportunities today? Even today, author-backed roles are not found for actresses; they are reserved for male actors. Mr Amitabh Bachchan gets such great roles even now, they are written specially for him. But such special roles have not been written for actresses till today,” the actor said in an interview to Mid-Day.

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The 74-year-old, who has been acting for nearly six decades, said she is waiting to explore different kinds of roles, including the ones that challenge her, but “nobody has offered me anything like that yet.” Her daughter, actor Esha Deol Takhtani has also entered the world of streaming with Rudra: The Edge of Darkness and Hunter: Tootega Nahi Todega and Malini said she is keen to join the club too.

“If someone can write a tailor-made role keeping me in mind, it would be nice. I think I too am capable of performing well,” Malini said. The actor was last seen in filmmaker Ramesh Sippy’s romantic comedy, Shimla Mirchi in 2020. The film also starred Rajkummar Rao and Rakul Preet Singh.

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