Anushka Sharma: How we portray women in films can alter how people perceive them

It was liberating for me to stand up and do this for myself. I was done seeing myself as an accessory and I vowed that as a producer I would not allow any woman to be portrayed regressively.

Mumbai: On the occasion of International Women’s Day, actress Anushka Sharma promises to make sure all her films have progressive women characters. She says it has always been about women empowerment and equality for her and this is reflected in her films.

“It was liberating for me to stand up and do this for myself. I was done seeing myself as an accessory and I vowed that as a producer I would not allow any woman to be portrayed regressively. So, my film choices and then my productions are a testimony to the fact that I’m committed towards sparking a conversation in society about equality, self-respect and empowerment,” she says.

The actress, who has been part of films such as “Sultan”, “Band Baaja Baaraat”, “NH10”, “Phillauri” and “Jab Tak hai Jaan”, says that films are a very powerful medium to influence the masses.

“Our films have the power to impact change and if done correctly, films can also condition people to make them determine between what is right and what is wrong. By being clear about how we will portray women in cinema, we can alter the mindset of people towards how they perceive women and shatter age-old, regressive beliefs, customs and traditions,” she says.

She adds that this has been her thought process behind coming on board as well. “I think I have been conscious enough to select roles and films that I felt could contribute towards changing the portrayal of women on screen. It took a lot of self-belief for me to do this as an actor and then as a producer because I was somehow swimming against the tide and challenging the notion of how women were so far portrayed on screen,” she says.