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Sanjay Leela Bhansali Slams The Perception That It Takes A Male Lead To Pull Off A Commercial Hit
Besides visual aesthetics and melodious music, Sanjay Leela Bhansali's films are also known for their strong female characters. The acclaimed filmmaker in his recent interview with a leading tabloid strongly objected to the perception prevailing in the film industry that one needs a 'hero' to draw crowds to the theatre halls and that the nation doesn't want to watch women-oriented films.
While speaking with ETimes, the Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam director said, "Who says that the nation doesn't want to see a women-oriented story or a heroine-oriented story? Who says that they are not going to see it? There are so many shades of a woman, and this needs to be told on celluloid," and citied examples of films like Sujata, Bandini, Ram Teri Ganga Maili and Mother India.
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Bhansali further rubbished the belief that it takes a male lead to pull off a commercial hit and said, "You keep hearing that it is all a hero industry, hero industry - I don't know who spread it. Where is this concept of a hero-oriented industry ki hero ki picture chalegi, wahin paisa daalo, heroine ki picture pe mat daalo - where has this come from? I don't understand where does this thought come from that in our industry, hero wali picture zyada chalti hai. It is not true!"
He said that everyone is wrongly blaming the audience for this attitude when it's just a handful of people who have unnecessarily muddled the mind and constantly kept imposing this belief in the industry over the years especially since the 80s.
The filmmaker said that he is hoping to do his bit to change this perception and spoke about how Deepika Padukone's Padmaavat did great business despite all the controversy.
"If Gangubai does well, as it is doing at the moment, more and more, then it will bring in a lot of those wonderful filmmakers who may today feel a little stifled about saying for a film that is centred around a female character - kaise banayenge?," Bhansali signed off.
