Laapataa Ladies is an aberration in a Bollywood plagued by gender imbalance; creators lament lack of level-playing field

As movie lovers we are always plagued by this question - why are women constantly underrepresented behind the camera? This question has become more pertinent lately as Kiran Rao’s Laapataa Ladies got a well-deserved nod as India’s official submission to the Oscars. The movie directed and co-produced by Kiran Rao marked her comeback to direction after 13 years. The film’s simple yet poignant narrative struck a chord as it chronicled the journey of two brides who get swapped on a train ride. (Also read: Aamir Khan is over the moon about Laapataa Ladies getting selected as India's Oscars entry: Kiran Rao)

The film competed with Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine As Light, which had won the Grand Prix at Cannes. However, it was the poorly worded citation announcing Laapataa Ladies as India’s submission that grabbed headlines.

The 13-member all male jury of the Film Federation of India described Indian women as a "strange mix of submission and dominance”. Taking to X (formerly Twitter), film critic Namrata Joshi called it offensive and patronising towards all women in general. While a social media user observed: “That’s what happens when you have no women as part of a film body.”

In an industry that is driven by commerce, and being essentially an all-boys club, gender biases apart, the under representation of women in cinema and decision-making bodies is constantly foreshadowed by lack of opportunities and constraints for women in the workforce.

Women directors are not supported by establishments

“It is not an even working space. Filmmaking involves a lot of hustle and it takes years to break in, but it is extremely difficult and rare for women to make their way. Just go through the list of films produced and directed by women in the last five years, who were not supported by their establishments backing their projects?” says screenwriter and former journalist Harneet Singh.

Just a few weeks ago Shogun, the Japanese historical drama creates history at the 76th Primetime Emmy Awards, with record 18 wins, including all major categories. The directing credits were shared by three filmmakers, including Swedish French filmmaker Charlotte Brändström. Brändström, whose high-end directing credits include Outlander, Witcher, and Jupiter’s Legacy, has recently helmed Season 2 of Prime Video’s opus Rings of Power. “I love that this show had strong and well-written women. But that apart, I feel we are all directors, and why shouldn’t women be entrusted with these huge budgets,” she says pointedly.

The wait for the next project can be a burden

Apart from the number of female directors employed in the film industry being abysmally low, the gaps between their last and current projects remain uneven. In Bollywood’s lackluster 2024 report card, Kiran Rao’s Laapataa Ladies was indeed a rare gem. The director confesses, “I felt trapped under the burden of ‘what next’.” She also adds that she had her share of struggles with the world telling her what to make and not.

On the other hand, four years after she directed the national award-winning Soorai Pottru, Sudha Kongara Prasad returned with Sarfira. Raazi director Meghana Gulzar brought Sam Bahadur three years after her last Chappak. The performance of their films is also crucial for the future of female-helmed films to be endorsed by studios. “If one female-led film does not do well, you hit a roadblock with finances and getting your story sanctioned. Even though the ratio of flops directed by men is way higher, they will always get a chance. Also, the ones sanctioning projects and holding the purse strings are always men,” says Harneet Singh.

Women creators are boxed in genres

After headlining box office successes such as Raazi and Gangubai Kathiawadi, Alia Bhatt is all set to make her foray as the first female spy in YRF’s testosterone-driven spy verse. Screenwriter Ishita Moitra, who has co-written Rocky our Rani Ki Film Kahani, Call Me Bae, is also one of the writers on the action-driven Alpha. She says, “For some reason, the system believes that big-budget action and fantasy films that need to make that kind of recovery at the box office can only be directed by men. Perhaps, they feel that women don’t “understand” these genres and are better suited to “sensitive” themes. Even when it comes to writing these sorts of films, it is almost all male. I am particularly privileged to have been a part of the writing of Alpha and have so much fun writing it. Just wish this sort of boxing of people based on gender didn’t happen.”

Filmmaker Tanuja Chandra says though the numbers may have increased since she directed Dushman (1998) and Sanghursh (1999), the female presence on and off screen continues to remain low. “Women have shown that they’re not limited by genres, that they can work with most kinds of subjects. So, any equation between the gender of the filmmaker and the genre is just plain inaccurate. The budgets women received have largely been small to moderate, though some changes in that area have begun as well. It’s just that change is SO slow to come. Unless we have a decent number of films made by women per year, we won’t have the required data to make assessments or reach conclusions.”, says Tanuja Chandra. Tanuja also feels though female voices are integral to rich storytelling, they continue to remain vastly unexplored in cinema.

CBFC member and author Vani Tripathi Tikoo says even though a Lord of the Rings and a Morning Show may have an all-women’s team, this is mere tokenism. “There are hardly any women in positions of power in film finance bodies as well as heading studios. Back home even though we celebrate Payal Kapadia and Reema Das as they make waves internationally, we are aware the gender balance ratio is askew.”

Though the glass ceiling is far from broken, but the efforts of these creative women and their voices, will go a long way in making the cracks.