Women’s roles now more weighty, says Genelia Deshmukh

The Deshmukhs feel that women in film industry are not treated like glam dolls anymore

Bollywood actors and husband-wife duo Riteish and Genelia Deshmukh say that there have been some welcome changes for female actors in Bollywood over the past few years. “Women are given more weightage in films, their roles are given more perspective as opposed to them being treated as some glam dolls,” Genelia says.

Saying that she is glad that “cinema has evolved with times”, the actor-producer adds, “This is not coming from a place of being a feminist. According to me, you just make better cinema when you consider both sides, a woman’s and a man’s. The industry is moving in the right path, and I hope to see more changes in the future.”

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Asked if he sees the gender dynamic shifting for the better, especially in cinema, Riteish Deshmukh says, “There are progressive filmmakers who have taken the bold step to make movies on topics that were probably questionable, but when you see the public response to those, it’s extremely exciting.”

He cites the recent Neena Gupta-starrer ‘Badhaai Ho’, the storyline of which revolves around the mother of a young man getting pregnant while he himself is seeking to get married. “It’s wonderful to see main lead actors play these kinds of roles and make the film on front foot, so more people to watch and judge for themselves.”

According to Riteish, “male actors have had it easy for a very long time in terms of whether married or divorced, single”. “It never made a difference to the kind of roles they played or people’s perception of their stardom. However, a leading lady had to face a few more hardships when it came to being offered a role. Their relationship among other things would affect people’s perception of your role,” he says.

He adds that in the last 10 years, there have been many leading female actors who have “taken front foot and gotten some amazing box office success without falling prey to the society’s earlier perception. It’s just wonderful to see that even the audiences have accepted them as individuals apart from their personal decisions”.

The Bollywood couple is co-hosting the second season of Flipkart Video’s Ladies Vs Gentlemen, an interesting show where celebrities debate out a range of questions about the two genders. It is the first time the couple is hosting a show together.