When she’s the hero

Are there only two genres for women in leading roles: romantic comedies and women-in-peril films? Not at all, insists Kavitha Lankesh and we agree

When she's the hero

Are there only two genres for women in leading roles: romantic comedies and women-in-peril films? Not at all, insists Kavitha Lankesh and we agree

Women in mainstream films populate the margins as girlfriends, mothers and wives. Here are some exceptions, writes Prabhudev M

Avva
Kavitha's most recent film, based on Lankesh's Mussanje Katha Prasanga, is the story of a spirited widow and her daughter who fight for their rights in a village dominated by caste politics and egoistic men.u00a0

"When I filmed the kiss in Avva, I was determined not to show two roses or two butterflies. When two people are in love, what's a kiss between them? But the local press was shocked. Come on guys, grow up, I told them.

They don't mind an obscene pelvic thrust, but they have problems with a kiss," says Kavitha.

Ranganayaki
Directed by Puttanna Kanagal, the film had Arathi, Ambarish, Ashok and Ramakrishna in lead roles. Arathi, a popular stage artiste, falls in love with a rich, young man. They get married and have a child. But she can't resist the call of the stage. Her angry husband leaves her and takes their son along with him. She soon becomes a sought-after movie star. Years later, a young man falls in love with her and she reciprocates his feelings. She also bumps into her ex-husband and pleads with him to let her have a glimpse of her son. The young lover realises that he has fallen in love with his own mother, but before he can act he loses her to an overdose of sleeping pills.

Dr Rajkumar and Puttanna Kanagal must be mentioned when we talk about women in Kannada films. Rajkumar never ever insulted a woman on screen by word or deed. Though there was an element of exaggeration in Puttanna's subjects, his women were never stereotypes. I've grown up watching their movies. And I hope my films reflect my respect for women."
Nagathihalli Chandrashekar, director

Thayi Saheba
The story, set in the days before independence, revolves around Narmada Thayi (Jaimala), the second wife of Appa Sahib, a freedom fighter. Both the director (Girish Kasaravalli) and the heroine (Jaimala) bagged national awards.

Most filmmakers think of women either as shrinking violets or as lady cops, dressed in khaki and bashing goons, when it comes to a woman-centric film. It beats me why they fail to use their eyes and their imagination! Films are a powerful medium. They should mirror reality and they should address uncomfortable issues."
Tara

Haseena
Tara plays Haseena, the wife of an auto driver. She has three daughters and a fourth is on the way. Her husband abandons her because she fails to give him a son. Finding employment as a housemaid, she learns about shariat laws from her educated employer Zuleikha, and she demands justice. She doesn't want her husband back. She wants her meher, to fund an operation to restore sight to her blind daughter.u00a0 She fights local politics by sitting in protest in front of the mosque. She wins her case, but she loses the motivation to fight.

Deveeri
Adapted from a novel by P Lankesh, Deveeri is remembered for 12-year-old Kyatha (Manja), a lively lad, who skips school, runs errands and lives in a government-sponsored shack under the watchful eye of his older sister whose innocence he comes to suspect. Deveeri, superbly played by Nandita Das, says she is a daily wage earner, but is in fact a prostitute. The film made waves for the non-strident yet passionate condemnation ofu00a0 'socialist' hypocrisy, corruption and male domination.

Kavitha says, "Turning a book (Akka), which is more like a diary and written as a first-person account, into a linear story was a challenge. Everyone told me not to attempt it. But I loved the story. I was working in an ad agency at that time and I would spend three hours every night on the script of Deveeri. I think the innocence and passion with which we made the film worked in its favour. Deveeri is a reflection of my 'atma vishwasa (self-belief)'. But I admit I had butterflies in my stomach when I invited my father for a special screening. I sat in a row behind him and tried to scrutinise his expressions. Finally, in the interval, I blurted out, 'What do you think?' and he snapped, 'No one gives an opinion watching half a film. Wait till it's over'. I had asked my sister, Gauri, who was working in Delhi at that time, to come over for moral support. She came and slept right through the film because she had been working all night! I could hear her snoring and I could see my dad scowling. I was so petrified. But after the film, dad came to me and said he loved it. Coming from him that was high praise because in our growing-up years, he had never once praised us."

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