This is not the first time someone has called Bollywood “patriarchal”. But when it comes from none other than the National Award winning actor Sharmila Tagore, it does make a difference.
"Society is patriarchal, so film industry by definition is certainly patriarchal. The male gaze dominated. Though, we had lengthy roles. But, the female characters that became popular were the ones that sacrificed,” said Sharmila Tagore, according to media reports.
She added that the image is changing now. Taking about the movie Piku, she said that concept of a woman looking after her father was never there when she was working in films. Sharmila Tagore said that though women are presented in a much better way now, “second half of the film still goes towards male dominance”.
Sharmila Tagore praised directors Sujoy Ghosh, Shoojit Sircar and Dibakar Banerjee for experimenting with their films. They directed films like Kahaani, Piku and Love, Sex and Dhokha that have women in strong characters.
Sharmila Tagore began her career in Satyajit Ray’s Bengali film Apur Sansar in 1959. She later shifted to Hindi movies and gave hit movies such as Aradhana, Amar Prem, Daag and Avishkaar but did not stop acting in Bengali movies. She has also won National Film Award twice, once for the movie Mausam in 1975 for Best Actress and in 2003 for the movie Abar Aranye for Best Supporting Actress.