Mumbai: Applauded for doing movies centred around the fairer sex, like “Kahaani” and “The Dirty Picture”, actress Vidya Balan feels there is no harm in pronouncing films as ‘women-centric’. “It’s been the norm, every film is male-centric… The identity of the character is missing, vague. When we see film with woman in the lead, it is a woman-centric film. I think there is no harm in pronouncing films as women-centric.
“At this point of time we need it, may be after sometime we won’t need it,” Vidya said on the sidelines of MAMI Mumbai International Film Festival here. Actress Kangana Ranaut, however, thinks it is not about male or female centric films, it is about characters. “I think it is not about male or female centric films but about the character one plays on screen. The characters are remembered,” she said.
The two actresses were speaking at a session on ‘Women in Films’ at MAMI festival, where veteran actress Shabana Azmi and director Kiran Rao were also present. Complimenting the work done by Vidya and Kangana, Shabana said, “There were lot of women-centric films with Nutan, Meena Kumari, Mala Sinha, then there came a phase where women were shown as a forgiving wife, sacrificing sister, loving mother…it was all stereotypical.” “It is a happy time as women are playing protagonist in films,” she said.
Shabana added she fails to understand the disparity in remuneration for male and female actors in the Hindi film industry. “I am unable to understand why gender comes in a profession. I got good money in mainstream films and for small budget films, I got money according to the budget of the film.”
