Mona Lisa, Smile!

8220;I won8217;t lie when I say it8217;s a predominantly male-dominated industry, a place where women are happy playing those lovey-dovey, sob-cry role and standing there like a piece of decoration. In fact, it8217;s a reflection of how society at large treats women,8221; says Onir, who8217;s had his share of trouble while dealing with women-oriented scripts. 8220;Men form a huge chunk of cinegoers, and they don8217;t want to see a woman-oriented film. Even if we ignore this, I8217;ve always faced problem over signing up leading actresses for the same role because they are more interested in knowing which hero is opposite them. When it comes to the hero, he gets insecure if the woman8217;s role is bigger than his!8221; Onir observes that women take up challenging or different roles only when their commercial value comes down. 8220;It8217;s a Catch 22 situation. It8217;s the same world over, in almost every profession. Take tennis, like cinema, the men earn more. Why are the rates that male stars charge higher than what actresses demand?8221; Good point.

The reason for the inequality, or gender bias per se, is due to the social conditioning over centuries, adman Prahlad Kakar had once made a remark for one of our stories. 8220;Women are made to believe that they are second best, that their place is in the house, that they have to be caretakers!8221; he said. This has seeped into mainstream cinema. We are keeping the parallel, experimental and art house aside, for they8217;ve tried to explore the Indian woman. But then, these guys never sell. It all boils down to viability, commercial saleabilty, market dynamics. 8220;This is a country where people want to see their six-foot tall strapping, muscular handsome hero who can bash a 100 goons in one go. They want to see the damsel in distress,8221; commented Jackie Shroff. In short it8217;s chained Veeru and naach Basanti!

8220;Films centered around women! First, there are hardly any scripts, and even if there are, there are hardly any takers. If there is a taker, where do we get saleable, leading women actors from? Like the telly, it8217;s all about the 8216;TRPs8217;, the market dynamics are in place, and everyone will place their bet on a Khan or Roshan for none of the women actors have a market value,8221; director Leena Yadav of Shabd gets candid. As a director, Reema Katgi feels everything depends on the actor. 8220;Even if they say niche small films, the single woman still has to raise money on her own, still look for bankable male/female stars. You want to explore and experiment, but where do you get the finances from?8221; But she adds that writers are now scripting more well-rounded characters for women. 8220;Let8217;s put it this way, we are not playing just the wife and girlfriend, there8217;s a little more, for instance Debbie8217;s character in Rock On.8221;

When it comes to actors like Gul Panag and Konkana Sen Sharma, they act wise and pick the best out of the lot. 8220;Films are in any case not made that well,8221; Konkana generalizes. As for Gul, all she does is make the most of it and 8220;keep on the lookout for good parts, characters which bring strength to the film. After all, we all can8217;t keep fighting an uphill battle,8221; seems like she8217;s already given up and in.

But we8217;d like to stick to what director Shona Urvashi has to say: 8220;We are half of the planet and we are treated as if we are the niche market! They have been successful in creating this hype, but world has become a little intellectual. We need to assert more, have our own thought process, find our own individuality.8221; Yeah, may be have an all-girl band that rocks on, a vacation to remember in Goa, just like Dil Chahta Hai, and a girl who dumps three boyfriends before she decides to settle. Yup, Bachne Ae Boys!