rks

Women In Film

Amrita Shah

When one thinks of the quintessential Hindi film heroine it is invariably someone of statuesque proportions and a certain melancholic beauty such as Meena Kumari, Nutan, Madhubala, Rekha and Rakhee or someone with lissome grace and vivaciousness such as Waheeda Rehman or Madhuri Dixit. These were women who brought a dramatic intensity to their roles creating memorable characters which, in turn became archetypes of Indian women : the wronged woman, the long suffering wife or mother, the warm-hearted prostitute, the sacrificing sister etc. etc.

The character of the heroine evolved through the decades. A significant step was the merging of the heroine and the vamp which saw a more modern and zestful personality emerge on the screen. Actresses like Hema Malini, Zeenat Aman and Kareena Kapoor could play bad girls as well as good ones, spoilt chicks as well as coy ones. Over the years women on screen began to have careers (Priety Zinta as a journalist), extra marital relationships (Rani Mukherjee in KANK) so on and so forth. The heroine became more individualistic and at the same time more active in the world rather than being confined to the home.

Please read more from website