The reality of this film industry is a far cry from the general perception outside of it. Bollywood has only gone through a few cosmetic changes from what it used to be 25 years back.
Bollywood veterans sermonise too much and frequently talk about how Bollywood has finally come of age.
I disagree, Sir.
Bollywood is still as archaic as its archives.
The reality of this film industry is a far cry from the general perception outside of it. Bollywood has only gone through a few cosmetic changes from what it used to be 25 years back.
The popular notion about Bollywood is that the female stars here share an equal footing as the males.
My experience and observations tell me that Bollywood is as male-dominated as it used to be 25 years back and the heroines are still as replaceable as they used to be.
Nothing has changed here in Bollywood.
Even today, most commercial film scripts are written with the heroes in mind and the heroine is just an add-on. Films get delayed or even shelved for the lack of a hero’s dates, but does a film falter because the heroine’s date diary is full? No. She is promptly replaced.
The male stars who used to dominate Bollywood 25 years ago still dominate the industry today.They have gained more importance in film projects over the years and still hold the reins as far as big budget films are concerned. Examples of female oriented films scoring at the box-office are far too few to even challenge this trend.
The cluster of heroes in Bollywood are now like that of the erstwhile Left Front in West Bengal. In West Bengal, the Left Front was officially a democratically elected politically party but in reality they were the kings who ruled West Bengal for 34 years before being overthrown by a rival party led by a woman.
Unfortunately, Bollywood is yet to see a woman who can give the men a run for their money.
Even today most commercial film scripts are written with the heroes in mind and the heroine is just an add-on. Films get delayed or even shelved for the lack of a hero’s dates, but does a film falter because the heroine’s date diary is full? No. She is promptly replaced from the film.
Ask anybody in the industry and they will tell you that it is always the heroine who has to match her dates with the hero and never vice versa.
It is interesting to note that most top male stars in Bollywood have been in the industry for more than 20 years and over the years, have assumed more importance in film projects.
Previously most heroes used to get paid a fee for their performance. Today, the dependence on the heroes have become so important that most leading heroes get a share of the profit that is generated from the film’s box office sales. The producers have no option but to agree because Bollywood heroes continue to drive ticket sales. If a heroine talks about sharing profits then most producers will die of shock.
They say that you have to be a part of the system to know it well. I don’t want to claim that I am outside the system. I am very much a part of it whether I like it or not, even though I frequently try to be an exception to it. Like me, there are a lot of heroines who want to be an exception to the system and some have even tried with some amount of success.
In the end, they have only proven the general rule that it is a male dominated hierarchy which is considered regressive and archaic by all standards. Read More>>
*Disclaimer
We have not paid Soumyadipta Banerjee for this article and that we have picked this article from his blog at www.bollywoodjournalist.com.
