Women at war

PRIYANKA CHOPRA is honing her skills in martial arts for her roles in Love Story 2050 and Drona; Aishwarya Bachchan is learning the art of sword play for Jodhaa Akbar; and Deepika Padukone is practising hard on her breath-taking stunts for Made in China.

The leading ladies of Bollywood are flexing their muscles with a newfound excitement to usher in the New Year with loads of action in their forthcoming films. So, does that mean it is a new phase heralding the advent of action heroines in Hindi cinema? According to filmmaker Junaid Memon, it is a trend which is getting increasingly popular, and is reminiscent of old Hindi films like Fearless Nadia. Says he, "It's good that directors and producers are working on action-packed women-oriented scripts. They have realised that today's female actors are not mere glam dolls, and that they can do much more. It shows that a female actor, too, can carry an action film on her shoulders."

And, it is a fact that more and more actresses are treading territories that were the exclusive domain of male actors. Stunt director Mehmood Bakshi says that women actors who desperately want to prove themselves through action movies now have a chance. "They are not there just to hum songs or run around bushes. This is a versatile field, and women now can do much better than male actors in Bollywood."

But, isn't it difficult for an actress doing action sequences compared to her male counterpart? Bakshi explains, "Every detail is explained in a script about a particular fight sequence. With the advancement of technology, there's no hassle in doing any stunt if it is directed properly by the stunt masters. They say that practice makes a man perfect, and it applies to action flicks too."

But, Rituparna Sengupta, who played a police inspector in Aagath, claims that women doing action flicks is easier said than done. She still can't forget the fracture she incurred while doing a fight sequence for one of her movies. "It's not that easy for us to prove that we can fight our villains. It needs rigorous practice and exercise. And, confident body language is a must," she asserts. However, she is in awe of Aishwarya's sword play in Jodhaa Akbar. "Sword fighting is really hard and it might have taken many days for Aishwarya to give her 100 per cent for that particular shot." The credit goes to the stunt directors if an action flick with a female protagonist does well at the box-office, she feels. Rituparna will be seen in four movies in the coming year.

It may not be a cakewalk for our heroines to take on the might of the bad guys on the screen, but with confidence levels soaring, it is not an impossible task either. And, they are out to prove that.