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To live it up

By Bidisha Singha
To live it up
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With the announcement of Jee Le Zaraa, Bollywood seems to be acknowledging the importance of women-led films, writes BIDISHA SINGHA.


When Reema Kagti tweeted this last week: "About time the girls took their car out," I quickly retweeted it, totally psyched about the implications of this rather cryptic message. Yes, she was hinting at the new film announcement from Farhan Akhtar — Jee Le Zaraa; a film starring three leading ladies of Bollywood, a film where the women hit the road, ala Dil Chahta Hai (DCH), a film that took too long to come. It's also heartening to note that Farhan Akhtar will be at the directorial helm this time, even co-writing it with his sister Zoya Akhtar and Reema Kagti. Zoya had also written and directed the other blockbuster road-trip film Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (ZNMD).

But what really took so long for this team from Excel Entertainment to come up with a film like this? In fact, after ZNMD, Zoya and Reema had been questioned many a times regarding the feasibility of a film on a girls' trip, but they had never really committed to the idea. It was Alia Bhatt, actually, who had once spoken of an all-girls' road-trip film, in one of her interviews. She spoke of how she wanted to do a sequel to DCH. Farhan Akhtar came to know of her wish and is said to have put some serious thought to it. Alia, thus, took to Instagram to reveal how Jee Le Zaraa was a dream that she dreamt with Katrina Kaif and Priyanka Chopra Jonas, and how the trio took it up with the filmmakers at Excel and the whole idea materialised over Zoom meetings.

At the end of the day, movie business is a money-making venture — one of the most lucrative in India. So, it's not a surprise that film producers or financers would only bet on scripts that guarantee a good return. And historically, female-led films have never really raked in the moolah. Many women-centric films are being made now and many are doing well too, but if comparisons are being made, even the biggest of hits with a female lead cannot match up to a Salman Khan or Akshay Kumar starrer. It is a business that thrives on first weekend collections, and female-led films rarely get a good start, only gaining ground on the basis of word of mouth. Be it Kangana Ranaut's Queen, Vidya Balan's The Dirty Picture, Alia Bhatt's Raazi or Sonam Kapoor's Neerja — all big hits but their lifetime earnings are still much lower than the blockbusters led by men.

So, even woman filmmakers like Zoya Akhtar and Reema Kagti opted to make a film like ZNMD with boys, despite the fact that they had written the film based on their own travels through Spain. However, when three of the biggest selling actresses in Indian cinema (Alia, Priyanka and Katrina) got down to talk about a film that they wish to be a part of, the producers at Excel Entertainment knew they had the 'names' to get the big money for a big film. In a male-dominated industry, the women are finally demanding their due. They have realised the need to call the shots, by becoming producers themselves like Anushka Sharma and Kangana Ranaut, or by sending out feelers through interviews about what kind of films they'd like to be a part of. In fact, Vidya Balan and Kangana Ranaut are only seen in female-led films now; they have stopped pandering to the whims of the male superstars and that's quite a refreshing change. While Vidya hasn't really gone vocal about her preference to not be the second fiddle anymore, Kangana has insisted every now and then on how she wouldn't work with the Khans, for actresses never really have much to do in their films.

The OTT medium has also aided women in their quest to get good work, with some brilliant scripts being written for women. Writers do not have to worry about box-office numbers now as films are hardly releasing at theatres, and filmmakers can afford to put their money into female-led films or shows. And then with many more female writers and directors in the mix now, unlike say 10 years ago, the time is ripe for a film like Jee Le Zaraa. What with the kind of hype the announcement has generated, it wouldn't be a surprise if the film eventually gets the highest opening weekend collections for a women-centric film. But, of course, the actual fate of the movie will depend on how well the Akhtars execute the dream of another Dil Chahta Hai.

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