For the last four years, since the moment India managed to get a whiff of Anushka Sharma and
Virat Kohli’s romance, we’ve collectively metamorphosed into a neighbourhood aunty waiting with bated breath for them to answer the one question: Shaadi kab hai, beta? Well, in December last year, #Virushka went ahead and put all questions to rest — one breakup, numerous accusations of Anushka being a “distraction” for Kohli, adorable declarations of love, and a fiercely guarded relationship later. The single-most anticipated event of 2017 was finally done with. And there’s plenty to celebrate. Virat and Anushka’s union is a chance to be happy about the fact that these are two people, in two industries that we are obsessed with, who have reached this level of success and popularity on the back of merit and talent (with a fair bit of privilege, of course). Where Virat has distinguished himself on the field, soaring from one honour to the next, Anushka has had the harder job of breaching Bollywood as an outsider. And then doing the delicate dance of working in mainstream films, while continuing to do things her way. It’s only befitting that Anushka should do it. She is known for her refreshing candour on Bollywood’s disturbingly obvious wage-gap, which reveals how even female and male newcomers get paid differentially. She has shot down nosy interference in her personal life, and has taken on the mantle to school Bollywood on its widespread sexism. In an interview three years ago, Anushka went on record stating how the disparity in the industry wasn’t just limited to actresses getting paid less than their male counterparts. It was little things like allotting the male lead a better room than the female lead and also the fact that “not enough parts were being written where the actress is kept in mind. Instead, she is often placed as a side-show.”Anushka Sharma, remained resolute in redefining the boundaries drawn for heroines in Bollywood.Anushka was clearly having none of this side-show business. At 26, she launched a production house with her elder brother, six years into her Bollywood career. It was a decision that was met with an almost unanimous combination of shock and awe. Bollywood norms can at best afford mainstream heroines a “shelf life” — a production house is either the domain of male actors, or a post-retirement stab at relevance for leading women. It certainly isn’t something that an actress puts her weight behind in the “prime” of her career, even as A-listers like Shah Rukh Khan, Farhan Akhtar, Salman Khan, and Aamir Khan continue to run their own production houses for years, alongside their acting careers, reaping the material benefits of their stardom. But Anushka Sharma, then just eight films old, remained resolute in redefining the boundaries drawn for heroines in Bollywood. Despite being an outsider. Especially because she is an outsider. Her production house, Clean Slate Films, backed NH10, 2015’s riskiest and finest film carried by a female lead, and then produced Phillauri last year, an unconventional (though flawed) movie that saw Diljit Dosanjh become prime Bollywood property. Their next venture Pari, a supernatural thriller released in March this year and had Sharma putting in a commendable performance yet again. NH10 cemented Anushka’s “gutsy” image and tackled the problematic reality of honour killings. At the time, half the members of the Censor Board wanted to ban it. Her next two productions facilitated the debuts of Anshai Lal and Proshit Roy. This wasn’t merely a female lead putting her faith in newcomers and the non-mainstream stories that they wanted to tell. It was reminiscent of the same conviction Aditya Chopra displayed in her capability to bring Taani to life in Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi (despite the disapproval of many well-wishers, including Karan Johar).
NH10 cemented Anushka Sharma’s “gutsy” image and tackled the problematic reality of honour killings. Image Credit: Phantom Films
