Women characters in Indian cinema today are drawn from real life: Javed Akhtar

On Sunday evening, at the JLF session titled “After the Angry Young Man, the Traditional Woman, What?” Javed Akhtar talked about the gradual shift in the personality of lead characters written for Bollywood films over the years.

The event saw a packed gathering despite the blazing sun. The session was moderated by Rachel Dwyer who, is a writer and professor of Indian Cultures and Cinema at SOAS, London. Seeing a large audience, Dwyer remarked that it was quite difficult for her to even enter the venue, and that she was impressed to find how popular Javed Akhtar was. 

Taking the example of characterisation of a hero in olden times, Akhtar said, “There was a time when a protagonist killed himself when he lost the heroine due to one reason or another, like we saw in Devdas.” He also called Rajesh Khanna a real “charming star”.

Moving on to talk about actresses, Akhtar said, “Gone are the days when we would see saree-clad women removing the shoes of her drunk husband after he came home, possibly after attending a mujra. In today’s time, fervent and strong heroines exist.”

He further added, “You might call it nepotism, but the character of Ayesha essayed by Priyanka Chopra in the movie Dil Dhadkne Do is laced with impeccable values. A character who speaks her mind under difficult circumstances”. [Dil Dhadkane Do was directed by Akhtar’s daughter Zoya.]

He said that in the future, roles written for women in Indian cinema will be inspired by and grounded in reality. “Tomorrow, we will see women with better morality and a stronger sense of justice on screen.”