Page 6 - April 2021
P. 6
Anushka Sharma, who has recently ANUSHKA
embraced motherhood, has been ruling
the Hindi film industry for 13 years now.
From portraying the role of an ambitious SHARMA
wedding planner in the 2010 film Band
Baaja Baaraat to essaying the role of a ON BACKING FEMALE-LED
fearless woman Meera in the 2015 film
NH10, she has showcased different STORIES
shades of women. Almost in all the films,
her characters had a strong head on their herself as an accessory. She also vowed
shoulders and all have a common thread
that tied them together. In 2015, Anushka that as a producer, she will not allow
launched her production house, and since women to be depicted regressively.
“It took a lot of self-belief, but it was
she has backed several female-led stories. liberating to do this for myself,” Sharma
She has put efforts to change the depiction
of women in Indian cinema. Now, she added.
After NH10, she has also backed the
is backing another powerful story Mai, film Bulbbul in 2020, which depicted
starring Sakshi Tanwar in the lead role. In
a recent interview, she opened up about the folklore of a blood-thirsty witch
from a feminist gaze. The story of her
producing women-led films for the past upcoming venture Mai revolves around
few years. Talking about the same, she said a mother who accidentally gets sucked
that from the initial days of her career, she
knew that she didn’t want to be boxed as into the world of violence and power.
the leading man’s arm candy. The actress Talking about the same, she said that
with each project, she aims to challenge
further added that she has been conscious society’s patriarchal ways.
enough to select roles that she felt could
contribute towards changing the portrayal Further, Anushka said that movies have
of women on screen. She was done seeing the power to impact change and help
people determine what is right and
wrong. “By being clear about how we will
depict women in cinema, we can alter
the mindset of people, and shatter age-
old beliefs and customs,” she added.
She also stated that her film choices
and productions are a testimony to the
fact that she is committed to sparking a
conversation in society about ‘equality,
self-respect, and empowerment
DesiPages DFW | April 2021 VOL 26 | 6
