Not much to cheer for women in Bollywood

[icernet-admin at listserv.cddc.vt.edu]

To be fair to the Hindi film industry, in the last two years the silver
screen's portrayal of women has matured from all-sacrificing mothers and
wives to exceptionally well-crafted characters like Lady Macbeth. This has
been made possible with female filmmakers bringing in their distinctive
style to an industry dominated by male directors and leading ladies plunging
into direction, production and heading industry associations. Another factor
is that popular female actors like Aishwarya Rai, Urmila Matondkar and
Kareena Kapoor seem keen on winning the National Award rather than raking in
the moolah. It means that directors take up women-oriented films as they get
star power without considerably boosting budgets, since popular female
actors are willing to cut fees for good roles. Nevertheless, much is
wanting. In the last decade not one film with a strong feminist message or
female protagonist has triumphed at the box-office. India has the biggest
film industry in the world but we can count the number of women filmmakers
on our fingertips. The number of women directors in mainstream cinema, both
Hindi and Tamil, can be counted on the fingers of one hand. Many women are
making a name for themselves in the world of documentaries, where budgets
are bottom-of-the-barrel, but where there is big money involved, a male has
a better chance of getting funding.

Source:
http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IE420040307122321