ImageCourtesy: post.jagran.com
Bollywood has been a platform which saw several changes over the years; it developed, progressed, evolved and made millions of fanatics revolve around it. Undoubtedly, this star-studded industry continues to do the same, attracting more number of budding actors, thousands of aspirers, and humongous staunch followers. It is the glitz, glam and extravagant nature of Bollywood movies which indirectly creates an enigmatic bond between itself and audiences; children here grow watching movies, youngsters use filmy dialogues to flaunt i-am-the-coolest attitude, and for the working force, it is a great medium of relaxation and rejuvenation on weekends. The roots of this industry can be traced long back, and thus, it has such a wide impact on the minds of Indians and that is why Bollywood still continues to rule our hearts. All in all, it provides us with a loaded parcel of ‘ENTERTAINMENT! ENTERNATAINMENT!! and ENTERTAINMENT!!!
With audiences under a great influence of entertainment hangover, filmmakers and creative workers try their best to come up with unique concepts, eccentric storylines and outlandish attempts. And when their trials succeed, it is time for the new era to start. If we scrutinize the last few Hindi films, we can easily spot a major and remarkable change occurring. Hindi film industry has always been controlled by men, with all main spotlights on them, giving their co-actresses the least of attention comparatively. Not that the previous makers didn`t try their hand at it, they put forth their views through films like Damini, Insaaf ka Taraju, Mirch Masala and many more which were critically acclaimed and also turned out to be hits at the box office. But in the atmosphere where the male dominance still survived highly, it was difficult for them to maintain their individuality. But in the current century, with female empowerment boards rising high and women without sticking to the stereotypical culture fighting hard is the ambience which perfectly provides nourishment to the rising fame of recent women-centric films. Heroines who either used to seek hero`s help to rescue or dance to item numbers seem to have switched the roles in the last few months. They themselves have come with the shoes of the hero and are very well, attempting to impress the audiences with their acting skills and heroic, courageous and brave activities.
Bollywood was quite in a gloomy state earlier this year, no doubt, films like Badlapur, Baby and Gabbar is Back fared well, small budget films like Margarita with a Straw and NH-10 were unique too, with their concepts, but still there was a feeling of wanting something more from the industry. And this completeness came to audiences with two of the highest-grosser of the year which released back to back. Piku, a beautiful tale of father-daughter relationship sans any love story, action packed sequences or torturing drama, managed to woo its audiences completely receiving tremendous acclamations. Second in line is talented Kangana`s Tanu Weds Manu Returns. While Tanu is all cheerful as usual, Datto tries best to impress with her Haryanvi accent and her ‘swag’. Have a look and you will realize that all focus here was on female stars with girl power being highlighted more; not only this, but they also turned out to be highest money-spinners of the year.
In the last few years too, Priyanka Chopra, Vidya Balan and Rani Mukherjee made their noteworthy performances in films like Mary Kom, Fashion, Kahaani and Mardaani making the viewers think seriously about the women still being down-trodden at many levels of society.
Upcoming releases are also geared up with women-oriented films like Priyanka`s Gangajal 2 which will showcase her playing a cop, Sonakshi`s Akira and Sonam`s Neerja which is a biopic based on the like of air hostess Neerja Bhanot who died while saving the lives of passengers. Hope that this trend never fades away, and Bollywood films continue to inspire the Indians by serving something unique on the platter each time!
A LIST OF SOME FEMALE-CENTRIC FILMS:
- PIKU — Deepika Padukone
- TANU WEDS MANU RETURNS – Kangana Ranaut
- NH-10 —Anushka Sharma
- MARGARITA WITH A STRAW —- Kalki Koechlin
- FASHION —- Priyanka Chopra and Kangana Ranaut
- KAHAANI —- Vidya Balan
- MARY KOM — Priyanka Chopra
- GULAAB GANG — Madhuri Dixit and Juhi Chawla
- MARDAANI — Rani Mukherjee
- QUEEN — Kangana Ranaut
- THE DIRTY PICTURE — Vidya Balan
- TANU WEDS MANU – Kangana Ranaut
- KHOOBSURAT — Sonam Kapoor
- ENGLISH VINGLISH — Sridevi
- NO ONE KILLED JESSICA — Rani Mukherjee
- HIGHWAY – Alia Bhatt
