Subhash K Jha looks at five actresses who dared to be different

They broke barriers sending the sati-Savitri image flying out of the window. No longer were these women content to play insipid doormats of cliches, Miss Coy dictated by an unchallenging script. They pushed the envelope, breaking boundaries by playing lesbians, adulterous women or bandit queens, all characters with shades of grey. In doing so, they opened up a new way of looking at women's sexuality on celluloid.

Sharmila Tagore in An Evening In Paris: (1967) Sharmila dared to do what until then only vamps did in Hindi films. She donned a bathing costume for An Evening In Paris. In fact she wanted it to be a bikini. It was director Shakti Samanta who put his foot down. Sharmila was always ahead of her time. In Aradhana she donned grey to play Rajesh Khanna's mom. In Mausam she let out a volley of abuses as a hardcore streetwalker. Way to go.