In a recent interview, actor Vidya Balan discussed the 2019 movie, Mission Mangal. According to Vidya, the movie that also starred four other female actresses was referred to as an “Akshay Kumar film” and did not highlight the other female cast members as the main characters. In addition to Akshay Kumar, the cast of Mission Mangal included Vidya Balan, Sonakshi Sinha, Taapsee Pannu, Kirti Kulhari, Nithya Menen, and Sharman Joshi. The movie, which was based on India’s first Mars trip, grossed almost 300 crores of rupees globally.
“The pandemic has become an easy excuse for people to say that now female-led films will not work in the theatres,” Vidya said at the O Womaniya! 2022 Adda hosted by Film Companion. “Basically, our industry is going through some kind of flux where a lot of our films are bombing, terrible,” she continued. And those are the movies with your so-called masculine heroes. But the films with female leads are the ones that suffer. Do you not realise that Alia Bhatt led Gangubai Kathiawadi instead of a man? Comparatively to many other movies with male heroes, that one has performed quite well. There is no logic to it, which is quite annoying.
“For instance, even a movie like Mission Mangal, which went well financially, will ultimately be recognised as an Akshay Kumar picture, which is quite bad,” she continued. Because we aren’t perceived in any way as having led the movie, it’s not Akshay Kumar and the other five leading females. But Akshay Kumar alone couldn’t have conveyed the narrative, and he wasn’t the only one who did. When discussing my recent successes, someone quipped, “Woh toh Akshay Kumar,” and I said, “Did you not see me and four other female actors?” They did not include Mission Mangal.
Before making her cinematic debut with Parineeta in 2006, Vidya made her acting debut with the well-liked comedy series Hum Paanch. The actor has developed a specialty throughout the years by appearing in various popular films with strong female leads.
