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on 2007/12/13 5:29:51
Picture this: a movie scene in which three guffawing women cavort down a street, passing the odd ribald remark about a guy’s posterior.
It’s more likely that one of the women would have been abandoned by her lover after finding out she was pregnant, another one would have got into the flesh trade to help send her little sister to school, and the third would be the supportive older sister or friend who has problems in her personal life.
This seems to be the prevailing trend in Bollywood. While films with male-dominated casts like Heyy Babyy, Dhol and Dhamaal are about the fun-filled escapades of a bunch of guys, those with women-oriented themes or female-dominated casts like Laaga Chunari Mein Daag and 15 Park Avenue tend to be heavy and at times, maudlin.
Seeing that comedies are doing so well at the box office, why aren’t there any written for women?
Director Sajid Khan attributes this trend to the dearth of female comedians in the industry. “It’s because there are more male comedians than female ones. Women shy away from making faces or looking funny, but men don’t. Madhuri Dixit and Sridevi pulled it off last and since then, there hasn’t really been anyone,” he says. And there’s no actress in the industry who comes to mind when you think of making a film in this genre, says scriptwriter Leena Yadav. “There hasn’t been a woman in the industry who’s consistently been doing comic roles. Juhi Chawla has brilliant comic timing, but now she’s doing more serious films,” she says.
Everyone knows that Bollywood is male-dominated, and this doesn’t just apply to people in front of the camera. “There aren’t that many women directors, and the few there are make offbeat movies,” says director Kavitha Lankesh, “This has an impact on the number and kind of women-oriented films that are made. In fact, the only commercial director in Bollywood is Farah Khan and her movies are Shah Rukh Khan-dominated!”
It’s also the way comedy is perceived in Bollywood. There are no scripts with Jane Austenesque repartee, which is the kind of humour that people would rather associate women with. “Comedy in Bollywood is all slapstick and men do that really well.
But also, women must have the oomph factor to make it in Bollywood,” says singer Raageshwari, who used to do comic sketches on a music channel. But she says that it’s not like women haven’t essayed comic roles before. “There’s Hemaji who did Seeta Aur Geeta and Sridevi in Chaal Baaz ,” she says.
Even director Pradeep Sarkar recalls Khubsoorat, in which Rekha played a “jovial and light-hearted role”. He says there are contemporary actresses who have the potential to play these roles. “Konkona Sen Sharma did a purely comic role in Metro. Both Konkona and Rani can pull off comic roles because they’re hilarious in real life. They’re not getting the chance to do these movies because there are so few women-oriented films. But people are willing to experiment and I’m sure once more women-centric movies are made, comedies will be a natural offshoot,” he says.
