Madhuri Dixit Nene began her career in Bollywood (with Abodh in 1984) when just a few filmmakers were creating films about women, and only a few authors were writing scripts with a fleshed-out role for the heroine.
When the year is 2022, the actress declares that it is a "great time and era for women in films."
She elaborates, “Today, when you say a female-centric film, it’s no longer just about a woman who’s taking revenge or is a victim and in the end, she rises above all odds. Now, women are characters in movies. They’re everyday people and aren’t being seeing through glasses of who’s a male or who’s a female. They’re portraying what women today actually do — go to work, be housewives, taking up different professions, shining in sports and so on. And it’s wonderful because then you get a variety of roles to portray, and women have so much more to do onscreen.”
Dixit, who will make her OTT debut with Netflix's 'The Fame Game,' believes that the digital media can help bring women's tales to the forefront. She also credits a lot of this shift in mentality to the changing sensitivities of the audience.
“When OTT came in, people started to see women being portrayed differently on screen than what they had seen in films. In these web series, women have such well-written and well-developed characters. Writers are writing scripts with modern sensibilities, not driven by patriarchal mindset,” says Dixit, adding, “So even audiences have matured and they want to see women in more important roles, and not just someone who is going to dance or say a few dialogues. They want more from the women onscreen which is wonderful for everyone.”
While the way women are portrayed on TV has changed dramatically over the years, Dixit is overjoyed that women are now seizing the reins behind the scenes as well.
“It’s wonderful to see women not just in front of the camera, but even in other departments on a film set,” says Madhuri, and recounts, “I remember I had started working and used to go on the sets, the only females would be me, other co-stars and the hairdresser. That’s it. There was no female in any other department. But today, when I go to a set, females are everywhere — assistant directors, camerapersons, writers, director and photographers. Earlier, there was this hirearchy that only men can do makeup and the women will only do hair, all that is broken and things have changed now.”
Her web debut, in fact, is also about a female superstar, Anamika Anand, whose disappearance reveals a slew of terrible revelations about her glitzy life. Dixit believes the long-form storytelling appeals to her, which is why she decided to venture into the OTT market.
“When you start watching a series, it becomes your world, and you’re curious to see what happens with every character, as you’re living their life in that moment. A movie says everything in two to three hours, but with this long-format content, you have a lot of time to tell your stories and back stories of each character. It has many sub stories running with the main plot, so you get to see a whole universe. That makes all the characters interesting, and you kind of get sucked in that world,” she explains.
When asked if there are any parallels between her character and herself, the actress quickly adds, “She’s a big star, huge name in Bollywood and has managed to keep her position intact... That’s the similarity and that’s where it ends. The kind of life Anamika had is very different from the kind of life I [Madhuri Dixit] had. Her family dynamics are very different from mine. She has seen the hard side of life and that’s how she has grown up. My mom and dad have always rallied around me and supported me but Anamika has not been protected. So, a lot differs from real to reel.”
