Aishwarya, Kangana and more: Girlpower to take centrestage in 2016

A number of women-oriented films are lined up for release in coming months. Sonakshi Sinha, Sonam Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra and Kangana Ranaut will all star as empowered women in their upcoming films.

When Kangana Ranaut-starrer Tanu Weds Manu Returns and Piku starring Deepika Padukone ranked among the top films of last year, they broke the notion that female-centric films don’t work at the box office. In fact, a number of such films are lined up for release in coming months.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Kangana Ranaut, Sonakshi Sinha and Priyanka Chopra will display girl power in 2016.

For starters, Kangana Ranaut, who is currently shooting for Vishal Bhardwaj’s Rangoon, will also be seen in Hansal Mehta’s Simran and the Rani Lakshmibai biopic. Sonam Kapoor stars in Ram Madhvani’s Neerja, a biopic based on Neerja Bhanot, a cabin crew member who died saving passengers on a hijacked flight.

Read: Neerja trailer: Sonam-starrer has the promise of gripping story

Sonakshi Sinha too will be seen in films like Akira and Haseena — The Queen of Mumbai. “I made a New Year’s resolution that I am going to do very challenging roles. I think I have stuck to that resolution,” says Sonakshi. Also, Priyanka Chopra will be seen as the central protagonist in Prakash Jha’s, Jai Gangaajal and Aishwarya Rai-Bachchan is shooting for Omung Kumar’s biopic of Sarabjit Singh. “The subject has got very good response,” says Ash.

Both Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Sonakshi Sinha will star in female-centric films in 2016.

Experts feel female-oriented films will work. “We have always had films like Mother India and Seeta Aur Geeta do well at box office, so it has just been a perception that films revolving around women characters won’t work. As long as films are entertaining, they will work regardless of the protagonist’s gender,” says distributor Akshaye Rathi.

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