Dude, where's my A-List hero? Bollywood's leading ladies ask on Women's Day

A-List superstars mostly have A-List leading ladies. That’s always been a no-brainer. But reverse the roles and you won’t see the same trend working at all.

Producers of most women-centric films today look for relatively less famous heroes or even newcomers. Why? Because the A-List heroes just won’t take up a film where the central character is a woman. Cases in point?

Priyanka Chopra had to cast Darshan Kumar for Mary Kom, Parambrata Chatterjee gave Vidya company in Kahaani, Bollywood debutant Fawad Khan played Sonam Kapoor’s Prince Charming in Khoobsurat and Anushka Sharma had to make do with Neil Bhoopalam in NH10. 

Here, on International Women’s Day, the ladies address the elephant in the room — there’s a lack of A-List male representation in such content-driven women-centric films...

Priyanka Chopra
You can’t expect the world to change in a day
I hate it when most people say that. When a female actor does a film led by her character, it’s not going out of her comfort zone. It is our comfort zone to be able to do a film, where you are at the centre spearheading everything. So why should a woman’s comfort zone be restricted to doing a film with an A-List hero? Yes, it would be great if established actors end up doing female-centric films but I am also sure that a time will come when that will happen as well. As soon as most female-centric films start doing box-office business like a lot of films like Mary Kom, Queen, Fashion and Kahaani, it will start falling into place. Slowly, it’s changing and the change has already happened. People like Mr Bachchan and Irrfan are doing a Piku today where they are an important part of the story. You can’t expect the world to change in a day. 

Kareena Kapoor Khan
Everything depends on the budget
People should actually stop thinking like that. You cannot blame the heroes for this. They have reached a place where they are allowed to choose their roles. Also, everything depends on the budget of the film. A filmmaker might want to make a film on a heroine-centric subject at a low budget whereas adding an A-lister hero might not be feasible. So it works that way, too. 

Sonam Kapoor
I have faced this a number of times
You’re absolutely right. I have also faced it quite a number of times. The first female-centric film I did was Aisha which was also my third film. Abhay Deol ended up doing it and he was doing quite well at that time. But it was a struggle to get him to do that role. And this was like six or seven years ago. Then I did Raanjhanaa and Bewakoofiyaan. I do not know of any A-Lister male leads who would have done any of these films. When we did Khoobsurat too, we cast Fawad Khan. It’s great that he’s become a star now but that time, he was also new to Bollywood, na?

Katrina Kaif
Actors by nature gravitate towards meatiest roles
It’s up to each actor to see if the role is worth their time. See, actors, by nature will gravitate towards roles which are the meatiest for them and offer them the most in return, in terms of your performance and what you can achieve. So if you have the choices as a big, successful actor where you are doing so much and your role is so diverse and elaborate, then the role which is smaller or more supporting like they call it, might not appeal to you. It sounds logical, right? But having said that, since I have worked with people like Shah Rukh, Salman, Aamir and all, I do believe that if there was a good film and if an interesting role was offered to them, they would come on board even if it’s small. That’s from what I know of them. 

Deepika Padukone
You cannot generalise the topic
It all depends on the kind of film it is. You cannot generalise things. Today, with Piku, we can say that maybe X, Y, and Z could have also done it. At the end of the day, it’s the story that you want to tell. Are we including an A-Lister male actor because we want to position the film a certain way? Or are we trying to be honest to the story first? Within the story, it depends on who is correct or who’s going to do justice to that part. So no, I don’t think it’s totally true. 

Nimrat Kaur
I cannot question people’s choices
When it’s a woman-centric subject, if you need a superstar actor to come in for commercial reasons, then they come in. Same way, if in a male-centric film, you need the presence of a female superstar, that also happens. Don’t ask me to name people because I am sure you are aware of what is happening. I don’t think people have these pre-conceived notions that women centric film hai, toh we won’t do it. I can’t comment on people’s choices, of course. But I think that if the part is strong enough, people will do it, for sure!

Aditi Rao Hydari
Actresses should put their foot down now
This is absolutely true! There are a lot of amazing, talented actresses who are supporting big actors’ films by doing their film where they get to do almost nothing. And it’s true, I find that a lot of big male stars don’t support female actors when they are doing women-oriented films. But ultimately, it shouldn’t matter because it’s not about big, small, A-list or B-list stars. It is about the story and casting the right person for the right story. And I feel the change has to come in the minds of the producers who make these films. If a female lead believes in her talent, then she should put her foot down. Just like male actors look after their interests, a female actor should also have the courage to say that. 

Konkona Sen Sharma
The power balance is tilted towards men
It’s true that the way our industry functions is disgusting. You don’t get equal pay for equal work and then this. The power balance is heavily tilted towards the men so they don’t probably need to do these films. But I hope it changes.