Women’s Day Special: Bollywood’s Leading Ladies

Bollywood  has always been a male dominated industry. Having a male superstar in your film almost  always guarantees a big opening. The same cannot be said about our actresses. The story and scripts of our movies revolve around the hero and the heroine only gets to be the flowerpot in the background. But now things are changing and with the success of  The Dirty Picture we might get to see more films which have women in stronger roles. On International Women’s Day lets take a look at some leading ladies who managed to carry a film on their strong shoulders.

Nargis in Mother India : Probably one of the strongest role to have ever been done by an Indian actress. Nargis was the epitome of a true Indian woman who can go to any extent to raise her kids but will not tolerate any crime even if its done by her own son. The film is considered a epic and was an all time blocksuter at the box office.

 

 

Hema Malini in Seeta or Geeta : She played the talkative Geeta and the submissive Seeta in GP Sippy’s Seeta or Geeta. With her twin roles, Hema Malini managed to make the audience laugh and cry at the same time. The film got her the Filmfare award for best actress. Their have been few remakes of this film.

 

 

Rekha in Khoobsurat : Who can forget the naughty and beautiful Rekha in Khoobsurat? She was the soul of the movie. Her bubbly act in the movie won her critical acclaim and various awards. We think we wouldn’t have enjoyed Khoobsurat even half as much as we did if not for Rekha.

 

 

Sridevi in ChaalBaaz : The beautiful and vivacious Sridevi played a double role in ChaalBaaz. She lighted up the screen with her portrayal of Anju and Manju, the twin sisters with very different personalities. The film was not only a super hit but at the box office but also won several awards including the Filmfare award for best actress.

 

 

Madhuri Dixit in Mrityudand : Satrring Ayub Khan and Madhuri Dixit in lead roles, the movie didn’t too well at the box office. However Madhuri’s performance in the movie was appreciated by one and all. The actress who ruled Bollywood in the 90s has done many women centric films like Lajja, Aaja Nachle, Gaja Gamini etc.

 

 

Tabu in Chandni Bar : The actress is known for doing strong roles which have made her win the National Award twice! Tabu outshined everyone as a bar dancer in Madhur Bhandarkar’s Chandni Bar. The film was a success and Tabu went on to win the national award for the same.

 

 

Karishma Kapoor in Zubeidaa : Karishma surprised the critics with her performance in Zubeidaa. Playing the multifaceted character the actress excelled in depicting various emotions. The film won her many awards and is often considered to be one of Karishma’s finest performance.

 

 

Gul Panag and Ayesha Takia in Dor : Next in our list is Dor, a beautiful movie about the friendship between a young widow and a woman who is faced with the biggest challenge of her life – to save her husband from death. This movie garnered rave reviews from the critics and also from the audience. Gul and Ayesha did full justice to their respective roles in the movie.

 

Priyanka Chopra in Saat Khoon Maaf : She played 7 different roles in Vishal Bharadwaj’s 7 Khoon Maaf. Playing the complicated Susanna must have been a difficult role and it is said that Priyanka was heartbroken at the film’s dismal performance at the Box Office. Hit or not, we definitely applaud Priyanka for attempting to play this difficult role.

 

 

Vidya Balan in The Dirty Picture : And last but not the least we have Vidya Balan. Her recent blockbuster The Dirty Picture had the best opening for a women centric film in the Indian film industry. The film established Vidya as a star who can not only carry the entire film on her shoulder but also make it work on the box office. We are glad that finally there’s an actress who is being noticed for her acting talent rather than her thumkas and size zero figure, about time we say!

 

 

 

 

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