Hansika Motwani says she enjoys her status as a ‘commercial heroine’, but it’s too soon for her to venture into women-centric films. Motwani was speaking in a candid interview with Deccan Chronicle, ahead of her first release of the year, Bogan. Motwani said she didn’t have the “experience and maturity” to do a film that would focus on her, as opposed to one that would focus on the hero.
“When the time comes, I will do female-centric films for sure. Right now, I have the tag ‘commercial heroine’. My resume says the same as well. All these years, I have churned out commercial hits. I am just five years old in the industry and I think I would need more experience and maturity to pull off a woman-centric movie,” she said.
However, Motwani’s comments beg the question: how many male actors bring “experience and maturity” to a hero-centric film? And if that’s not a problem for them, why is it a problem for Motwani?
In an interview last year, actress Vidya Balan said that the only reason the tag ‘women-centric’ even existed was because male and female leads were treated unequally. Balan has starred in several films as the main lead, such as in The Dirty Picture (2011) and Kahaani (2012). She said she had no qualms being associated with well-written roles for women.
“People ask me ‘Why call it women-centric films, why can’t you just call it film?’ I say ‘because all these years and decades you’ve had men at the centre of the plot’,” she said.
Last year, South Indian actress Samantha Ruth Prabhu also spoke about a similar lack of roles for women in the industry. “Realising just how hard it is to get a meaningful role for a heroine in the south. I haven’t signed as many films as I’d like to because there are no good roles. As disheartening as it is to say,” she had tweeted.
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Meanwhile, on the subject of Bogan, which stars Jayam Ravi and Arvind Swamy, Motwani says she plays a kind of catalyst between the two actors. “I play the driving force of the hero, who has a very peculiar and unique character. It’s cute and a different kind of a love story, which every girl will be able to relate to easily,” she said.
The 25-year-old actress made her Tamil debut with Mappillai (2011) alongside Dhanush and Manisha Koirala. She has since acted in 20 Tamil films with Bogan being her 21st film.
Bogan releases on 2 February and is directed by Lakshman and produced by actor-dancer Prabhu Deva. The film marks Motwani’s third collaboration with Jayam Ravi.
Apart from Bogan, Motwani’s Telugu film Luckunnodu is slated to release on the day after Bogan, starring alongside Manchu Vishnu.