Shabana Azmi says portrayal of women in Indian cinema has changed: They are doing something, not just falling for a man

Shabana Azmi says portrayal of women in cinema has changed significantly, and filmmakers are trying to depict female characters realistically.

Actor Shabana Azmi is enjoying the current phase of her career, which involves attending film festivals, shooting outside of India for her international projects, and back home in Bollywood, getting to essay diverse roles with the narrative undergoing a drastic change with regards to women characters.

Shabana Azmi was last seen in What’s Love Got to Do with It?

“If we talk about the Hindi film industry, the portrayal of women in cinema has changed a great deal,” she says, adding, “Back in the 1960s, when you saw a film, it was all about main chup rahungi. It was considered a virtue for a woman to remain silent. Today, that won’t be ideal at the box office”.

Talks about female characters on the big screen

Further explaining her point, the veteran actor cites the example of her latest release, What’s Love Got to Do with It?

“If you take my character in the film, you will see that it is not a liberating feminist kind of role. But she is the matriarch of the family, and she is somebody who would go to any lengths to keep her family together to keep her children. It is a feminist liberal stance. But the lens that (director) Shekhar Kapur uses for his characters is always pro-women,” Azmi shares.

Even if a film is a love story, the women have a profession, they do something else rather, except for just falling for someone

And that shows, she says, filmmakers are trying to bring about a shift in the narrative when it comes to depicting female characters on the big screen. “We know that there are different kinds of women. At one point, it was believed that all women in India wear yellow chiffon sarees and dance in the Alps... There was never any concept of a woman being a professional or working woman,” points Azmi.

However, she is glad to see the shift slowly being introduced. “Now you pick rural or urban India, women are [shown to be] working. Even if a film is a love story, the women have a profession, they do something else rather, except for just falling for someone. These things show how there is a change, and it’s only for better,” concludes the actor.