The book was released by leading Bollywood actress, Vidya Balan

MUMBAI, 18th FEBRUARY, 2023 (GPN): Oxford University Press, the world’s largest university press, launched ‘The Millennial Woman in Bollywood: A New ‘Brand’ today. Leading actress Vidya Balan released the book along with its author, renowned freelance film critic Maithili Rao. The book release was followed by a candid conversation and Q & A session with the author.

In her latest book, Ms. Maithili Rao explores the shift in women’s portrayal from victimized objects to strong, well-rounded heroines who can now be protagonists. Rao explains how contemporary cinema recognized this change and quietly infused power into its heroines while retaining the formulaic stories that audiences grew to love.

The author discusses how the female protagonists of the critically acclaimed hit films ‘Chandni Bar’ (2001), ‘Page 3’ (2005), and ‘Fashion’ (2008) broke the conventional framework. As a result, filmmakers and producers ventured into what was previously considered box-office poison in ways such as ‘Dev D’ (2009) or ‘Saheb, Biwi aur Gangster’ (2011). Modern romance comedies have taken on the character of the fiercely independent, and sometimes confused young woman with a strong sense of identity. In films such as ‘Kahaani’ (2012), ‘Queen’ (2014), and ‘Mary Kom’ (2014), women are driving the plot and combating patriarchy, Maithili Rao argues.

During the candid discussion post book release, Ms. Maithili elucidates how Bollywood and its audience are evolving, “Exposure to these other kinds of film narratives (such as ‘Mary Kom’ and ‘Queen’) are changing even popular tastes and making them accept more challenging stories that don’t give very easy answer.” Explaining the change she says, “Audiences who wanted to go back with some message that is very easily internalized, wanted to take home a sense of comfort; are now accepting these challenging kind of stories that we tell where we are not seeing the character as a woman or a man but first of all as a human being and then grapple with situations.” “But”, she reiterates, “we still can’t escape the kind of burden a woman carries (in any film).”

Actress Vidya Balan expounds on this a little further by raising a pertinent question and says, “For (me) feminism is very different, knowing (my) rights and living life on (my) terms, all this constitutes who (I am); but for a woman in a village who has lived in purdah or ghunghat all her life, the first time she lifts the ghunghat and walks, that is empowerment, in that context she’s being a feminist.” “Don’t you think we are going through a time when we are having a very myopic view on this?”, the leading lady asks.

Rao’s book ‘Smita Patil, A Brief Incandescence’ was published in 2015. She co-edited two books in 2022 – ‘The Oldest Love Story, A Motherhood Anthology’, and ‘Films Through Women’s Eyes, A Study of Seventeen of 17 Women Directors of India’. Maithili has also contributed chapters to many books on cinema.

Speaking about the book launch Sumanta Datta, MD, Oxford University Press India, said, “Maithili Rao’s exceptionally well-written book lucidly analyses the marked transformation in the Bollywood woman of today. As compared to a decade ago when they were mere showpieces, the present-day heroine has claimed her rightful place as being no less, sometimes even more than the hero. This dramatic paradigm shift can be witnessed in blockbuster movies featuring female protagonists. Maithili brilliantly delineates this journey of the Bollywood woman in her book.”

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