Bollywood girls are no longer the damsels in distress. Saucy ladies are staring out from film posters during the all-important festive season and are attracting audiences in droves.
While Kareena Kapoor is the star attraction, splashed across publicity materials for the just released Golmaal Returns, the other big film on the marquees is Fashion with Priyanka Chopra and Kangana Ranaut.
These ladies who swear, slap, snore and swig drinks are heroes of many Bollywood offerings. Clearly, with closer-to-life protagonists emerging as leads in Hindi films, the urban woman has arrived on the silver screen.
Fashion is the story of three women trying to make their individual mark and stay ahead in a competitive and cut-throat work environment, and Mallika Sherawat doesn’t blink over wearing her innerwear as outerwear or arm wrestling in Ugly Aur Pagli.
In Jaane Tu… Ya Jaane Na, audiences hoot for ‘Meow’ who abuses and scratches her opponent’s cheek, while her pal lectures sweetly on the virtues of non-violence.
In Via Darjeeling, Sandhya Mridul is shown openly drinking with her mixed-group cronies while Sonali Kulkarni is portrayed as a two-timer.
Hit film Cheeni Kum has Tabu in the role of a confident, professional woman who holidays in London and falls in love with a man 30 years older.
Konkona Sen Sharma in Life In A …Metro may be on the wrong side of 30, but she is not ready to marry by her mother’s choice, and Shilpa Shetty gives no explanation for her unattached status when she dies of AIDS in Phir Milenge.
Already on the small screen, the dominance of women is complete. Even in the archaic soap operas, the model Indian daughters-in-law are invariably successful businesswomen. More importantly, dime-a-dozen reality shows are presenting a picture of women that has never been seen before. Girls indulging in flirting and backstabbing sessions have become routine.
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