When women played key roles in Bollywood films

When Shah Rukh Khanrsquos film Chennai Express was up for release the actor made it loud and clear that the opening credits in all his films would now carry the name of his leading lady before his ownWith women characters no longer being relegated to the background this gesture assumes more significance today Even as womencentric films multiply manifold and leading actresses play meatier roles itrsquos apt that their names gain prominence in the opening credits All of which begs the question will other filmmakers and actors follow SRKrsquos cueHitList throws light on some upcoming films where the actresses play key roles Whether or not they will be assigned similar importance in the opening credits remains to be seenGundayDirector Ali Abbas ZafarFemale quotient The promos tell us that this action film hinges on the charisma of macho duo Ranveer Singh and Arjun Kapoor However therersquos considerable room for Priyanka Chopra to wow the audiences as wellGulaab GangDirector Soumik SenFemale quotient Dedh Ishqiya saw Madhuri Dixit and Huma Qureshi vie for attention against the likes of Naseeruddin Shah and Arshad Warsi But in Gulaab Gang itrsquos all about womanpower as Madhuri and Huma team up with Juhi ChawlaUntitled Mary Kom biopicDirector Omung KumarFemale quotient Priyanka Chopra will be playing celebrated boxer MC Mary Kom in this biopic With the film tracing Maryrsquos rise PeeCee should be in every frame of this filmQueenDirector Vikas BahlFemale quotient The film is centred around a Punjabi character that will be portrayed by Kangna Ranaut Rajkummar Rao of Shahid fame is starring opposite her It wouldnrsquot be a mistake to label this film as womencentricSuper NaaniDirector Indra KumarFemale quotient Evergreen actress Rekha is now planning a comeback along with Randhir Kapoor The cast also has Sharman Joshi in it but with Rekha leading the way nothing else matters now does itDaawatEIshqDirector Habib FaisalFemale quotient This romantic comedy is Aditya Roy Kapurrsquos sixth feature film and Parineeti Choprarsquos fifth cinematic outing But in the glamour stakes the latter has fared much better and hence she might just beat him to it in their filmrsquos opening creditsRevolver RaniDirector Sai KabirFemale quotient Kangna Ranaut seems to have made up her mind to take on only characterdriven projects This film will have her in a neverseenbefore role and it has newcomer Vir Das cast opposite herBewakoofianDirector Nupur AsthanaFemale quotient Ayushmann Khurranarsquos first and second films saw him paired opposite fellownewbies Yami Gautam and Pooja Salvi respectively but this one is different In this romcom he stars opposite Sonam Kapoor an actress who is lsquoseniorrsquo to him Wersquoll have to wait to know more about their roles thoughNH10Director Navdeep SinghFemale quotient This film faced some problems during its casting but now Anushka Sharma has been finalised for the project Moreover the actress upon seeing the filmrsquos potential has turned producer too With Neil Bhoopalam of TV show 24 fame sharing screen space with her this film should be touted as Anushkarsquos baby all the wayFinding Fanny FernandesDirector Homi AdjaniaFemale quotient Although the titular character will be played by Anjali Patil Deepika Padukone is expected to enjoy maximum screen time in this one The ensemble cast includes veterans like Naseeruddin Shah Pankaj Kapur and Dimple Kapadia and younger actors such as Arjun Kapoor Insiders say that Dippy will steal this showLessons from the pastInstances where actresses have taken precedence over their male colleagues in a filmrsquos creditsgtgt Nargisrsquos name appeared before Sunil Dutt and Rajendra Kumar in the opening credits for Mother India 1957gtgt Rajesh Khannarsquos name followed that of Meena Kumari in the opening credits for Dushman 1971 while Amitabh Bachchanrsquos name appeared after Mala Sinharsquos in the credits for the film Sanjog also made in 1971gtgt Farooque Shaikh took a backseat in the credit titles of Umrao Jaan 1981 as the film focussed on Rekharsquos charactergtgt Smita Patil and Shabana Azmi both of whom were known for their predeliction for parallel cinema always got prominence in the filmrsquos credits Mandi for instance was a film where the duo outshone their male