It has been a good year for women-lead narratives such as ‘Laapata Ladies’, ‘Stree 2’ and ‘Munjiya’. Do you feel we are finally making strides in the right direction when it comes to representation of women in cinema?We are progressing in the right direction, but it is a very slow process. Now, the success and failure of a movie has gone beyond star power. The story is the main star of a film. What we should also aim for is to get to a point when it doesn’t matter if it’s a film led by a male or a female actor. It should just be about the film.Ideally, gender should not be a criterion at all; in terms of how much a film makes, what its budget is etc. A lot of films with female protagonists are made with a lesser budget because there is the inherent fear of poor returns. So when a ‘Crew’ does well at the box office, it gives producers, and hopefully directors, the confidence that one can mount a film on women on the same budget as a film with a male lead, and get their money back.You are the proverbial outsider who created a space for themselves in a rather competitive ecosystem. ‘Bareilly Ki Barfi’ in 2017 proved to be the game changer for you, and you further cemented your position with a National Award-win for ‘Mimi’ in 2021. How challenging has it been to get this far?The challenges keep changing. You are always sort of battling a different obstacle, or trying to break a different ceiling. As a newcomer without a film background, the first challenge is to get opportunities, to get people to appreciate your work, and recognise you.Then, it is about the kind of an actor you want to be known as. I didn’t want to get typecast as a glamorous heroine, and was fortunate to get Bareilly Ki Barfi, which helped me break the mould. But, an actor can only fill the vessel according to its size. And, for a long time I wasn’t getting the right opportunity. Of course, there is a point where one gets confused with all the chatter around, but I knew I didn’t want to get limited.Yes, I made mistakes, and some movies just didn’t work for me, and then Mimi happened. Right now, I am in a space where I am no longer running around to prove myself as an actor. Instead, I need to keep pushing the envelope to do better.So, what is next on the cards for you?It’s been a busy time for me with Do Patti. I am looking for something that excites me enough to produce it. As an actor, I have signed something, which I cannot divulge yet. But, I would love to do an intense love story, a comedy as well as play a superwoman kind of a character, which has lots of action.
Source link
