Women at the helm! From Kangana Ranaut to Meghna Gulzar: These female directors will call ‘action’ in 2019

The film industry has by and large been men’s fiefdom, especially when it comes to filmmaking. Not surprising then, when one hears of a woman wielding the megaphone, it’s hailed as something out of the ordinary. That being said, Mira Nair, Deepa Mehta and Aparna Sen with their hard-hitting cinema such as Salaam Bombay! (1988), Water (2005) and Mr and Mrs Iyer (2002) respectively, Meghna Gulzar with her powerful outings Talvar (2015) and last year’s Raazi, and an out-and-out masala filmmaker like Farah Khan with Main Hoon Na (2004) and Happy New Year (2014) have all proved that the ladies are a force to reckon with. Who can forget Zoya Akhtar with her slick flicks like Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (2011) and Dil Dhadakne Do (2013), Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari, who has given us slice-of-life movies such as Nil Battey Sannata (2017) and Bareilly Ki Barfi (2018) and the likes of Reema Kagti (Talaash in 2012 and Gold in 2018), Alankrita Shrivastava with Lipstick Under My Burkha (2017) and many more of their ilk. 

For the last couple of years, the works of only three-four women filmmakers have released. For instance, Raazi, Nandita Das’ Manto and Gold were spoken about in 2018. Before that, Konkona Sensharma’s A Death in the Gunj (2016), Lipstick Under My Burkha and Tanuja Chandra’s Qarib Qarib Singlle (2017) struck a chord with the audience. However, this year, it’s nearly twice as many women directors whose films will hit the marquee. The grande dames who will be at the forefront are Kangana Ranaut with Manikarnika: The Queen Of Jhansi, Meghna with Chhapaak, Shonali Bose with The Sky Is Pink, Alankrita with Dolly Kitty Aur Woh Chamakte Sitare, Seema Pahwa with Pind Daan and Sneha Taurani with her untitled dance film.  

THE FIRST TIMERS

Kangana plays the feisty freedom fighter in Manikarnika, which is all set to release on January 25. However, the actress will have the reins in her hands in real life, too. She took over as the captain of the ship from Krish Jagarlamudi and helmed the project after his departure. The real-life story of the warrior queen of Jhansi, Rani Laxmibai, sees the Tanu Weds Manu heroine debuting as a director. While Kangana has handled affairs on such a massive canvas, actress Seema Pahwa has a more grounded setting in her directorial debut. She was applauded for playing mother to Kriti Sanon in Bareilly Ki Barfi and Bhumi Pednekar and Shubh Mangal Saavdhan respectively in 2017. The veteran actress has directed plays for her theatre group with her husband Manoj Pahwa and is directing for the first time. The project started filming in Lucknow recently and has a power-packed ensemble star cast comprising Naseeruddin Shah, Konkona Sensharma, Vikrant Massey, Parambrata Chatterjee, Vinay Pathak and Manoj. The family drama is about love and relationships. The buzz is that it will release on the web.

Another debutante is Sneha Taurani, who is producer Ramesh Taurani’s daughter and has already made inroads into the industry as an assistant director — Ajab Prem Ki Gajab Kahani (2009), Once Upon A Time In Mumbai Dobaara (2013) and Karwaan (2018). Now, she is all set to occupy the director’s chair with a dance film that charts the evolution of bhangra. Said to be set in two parts — past and present, the film will star Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety actor Sunny Singh and Vicky Kaushal’s brother Sunny Kaushal. Interestingly, Taurani Sr isn’t backing the project. It’s being bankrolled by Ronnie Screwvala.

WOMEN AT CENTRE STAGE

While female directors have been under-represented in the industry, actresses have been relegated to playing the hero’s arm candy or just the glam quotient. Of course, the tide is changing, as last year saw girls leading the way with either being at centre stage (Anushka Sharma in Pari, Alia Bhatt in Raazi, Rani Mukerji in Hichki, Kareena Kapoor Khan and Sonam K Ahuja in Veere Di Wedding, to name a few) or with as strong a presence as that of the heroes — Deepika Padukone in Padmaavat, Tabu in AndhaDhun, or Anushka and Katrina Kaif in Zero. With women directing, heroines get the attention that they deserve. Alankrita’s outing this year, Dolly Kitty Aur Woh Chamakte Sitare will have Konkona teaming up with Bhumi Pednekar for the satire. From the poster where the latter is smoking a ciggie and holding a glass of drink, and the tagline, #JoinTheREBEL-ution, one can tell that Alankrita will dish out another movie where the spotlight will be on its women.  

Similarly, after Raazi, where Alia was the lead, Meghna’s Chhapaak will see Deepika as acid attack survivor, Laxmi Agarwal, who is now a campaigner against such attacks. Another name on the list is the internationally-famed filmmaker, Shonali Bose whose repertoire includes National Award- winning Amu (2005) and the critically-acclaimed Margarita With A Straw (2015), which revolved around women. Now, she has The Sky Is Pink coming up, which stars Priyanka Chopra as well as Zaira Wasim and is based on the life of Aisha Chaudhary, a young motivational speaker born with an immune deficiency disorder. Once again, it’s a girl’s story. 

MEN’S STORY, TOO

One may reckon that women are more adept at presenting stories of the gender because they understand the psyche and world better. That’s not to say they cannot excel at stories of men. Zoya has to her credit Luck By Chance (2009) that had Farhan Akhtar as the protagonist and Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (2011), which was a buddy film. This year, she has Gully Boy that’s based on the lives of rappers in Mumbai. It will follow the journey of Vivian Fernandes, better known as DIVINE, and Naezy (Naved Shaikh) from becoming underground to popular rap artistes. But, from the looks of it, Alia has a meaty role, too.