Women-led films not a recent phenomena: Shweta Basu

Actress Shweta Basu Prasad, who has featured in "The Tashkent Files", says the celebration of women-centric films is not a new phenomena as Indian cinema is known for presenting women in a progressive manner from the 1940s era.

On the changing image of women in Bollywood, Shweta told IANS here: "I do not think that women-led films are a recent phenomena. I rather believe that we are going back to the golden phase of Indian cinema. The major change that has happened is in the audience and producers.

"The audience has started appreciating stories that are compelling, relatable and holds relevance. The audience has understood that a story has no gender and that is why when they watch a film that has strong female characters, they enjoy it equally."

Citing the example of films like "Achhut Kannya", "Devi", "Ek Din Pratidin", "Umrao Jaan" and "Sujata", she said: "These days the talk on female-led films has increased and that is why people are saying these days that in those days, the female characters were well-written. That's way I think we are going progressive all over again."

Having started her journey as an actress from a very young age, Shweta bagged the National Award for her performance in the film "Makdee" and she got noticed by the audience for her acting in the Nagesh Kukunoor's "Iqbal".

However, when most of the youngsters continue working in films once they get success, Shweta focused on education.

"Actually it was my parents' decision as I was so young to decide anything. I think they took the right decision and that is why I have had a normal childhood and I am not burnt out, the way it often happens to many child artistes. My parents said no to filmmakers like Madhur Bhandarkar and Priyadarshan when they approached me for 'Traffic Signal' and 'Halla Bol' respectively.

"Honestly, I have no regret because I was enjoying my education, school friends and everything that a normal girl does," she said.

On her upcoming work, Shweta said: "I am shooting a film with Raghubir Yadav. It is a very beautiful story that explores the father-daughter relationship. It is one of the unexplored shades of that bonding and at the same time, it questions the set definition of beauty in our society. I am so glad that I have got a chance to work with a great actor like him."

--IANS

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