{"id":3883,"date":"2016-03-23T01:23:33","date_gmt":"2016-03-22T19:53:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=3883"},"modified":"2026-07-17T20:47:47","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T15:17:47","slug":"women-on-screen-bollywood-2018-female-representation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=3883","title":{"rendered":"#Throwback 2018: This Year Belongs to Women on Screen. But What About those Behind the Scenes?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"container page-content\"><p><span class=\"dropcap\">A<\/span><\/p><\/div><p>beautiful woman (Tabu in <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/admin.arre.co.in\/bollywood\/andhadhun-review-sriram-raghavan-ayushmann-khurrana-tabu\/\">Andhadhun<\/a><\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">) kills her wealthy, older husband, and her neighbour before poisoning the sole witness to her crimes. An unambitious small-town girl (Tapsee Pannu in <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Manmarziyaan<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">) flits between her husband and her ex-boyfriend with scant regard for her marriage. An upper-class South Dilliwali (Swara Bhaskar in <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Veere Di Wedding<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">) uses a dildo to pleasure herself in front of her rattled husband. A village girl (Radhika Madan in <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Pataakha<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">) chooses to own a diary at the cost of her intelligent sister being taken out of school. An undercover Indian spy (Alia Bhatt in <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Raazi<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">) jeopardises her mission by falling in love with her Pakistani husband and a demon (Anushka Sharma in <em><a href=\"http:\/\/admin.arre.co.in\/bollywood\/pari-movie-review-anushka-sharma-prosit-roy-parambrata-chatterjee\/\">Pari<\/a><\/em>) falls in love with a human.<\/span>\n\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In any other year, the apparent selfishness of these female leads would have promptly been labelled villainous; a marker of irresponsibility that needed to be overcome or punished. But in 2018, these <a href=\"http:\/\/admin.arre.co.in\/pop-culture\/killing-eve-sandra-oh-jodi-comer-bad-girls-tv\/\">unlikeable girls<\/a>, who dared to prioritise their own desires over social obligations, were allowed to be self-serving without being pigeonholed. <\/span>\n\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Seeing more flawed women in the year\u2019s biggest films, is a monumental start to seeing more nuanced female characters on screen. But let\u2019s not pop the champagne just yet. <\/span>\n\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This year has also had its fair share of the self-sacrificial female lead: In <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/admin.arre.co.in\/bollywood\/padmaavat-movie-review-padmavati-ranveer-singh-khilji\/\">Padmaavat<\/a><\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, Deepika Padukone, has to resort to jauhar to protect the honour of her kingdom. In <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Raazi<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, Alia Bhatt\u2019s Sehmat, feels compelled to subscribe to the \u201cgood Muslim\u201d trope. And in <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Kedarnath<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, Sara Ali Khan\u2019s Mukku, is forced by her family to marry someone she doesn\u2019t love. The year has also seen films like <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Thugs of Hindostan, Soorma<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Stree<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in which female leads were sidelined. And there were films like <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/admin.arre.co.in\/bollywood\/bhavesh-joshi-superhero-harshvardhan-kapoor\/\">Bhavesh Joshi: Superhero<\/a><\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Omerta<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Satyameva Jayate<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">102 Not Out<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, that didn\u2019t even have a female lead.<\/span>\n\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yet, there seems to be a general consensus on one thing: 2018 has been the year female actors have been granted extended screen time. But is it fair to assert that Bollywood has been inclusive of women this year, without looking at the representation of women behind the scenes?<\/span>\n\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In 2018 for instance, the Hindi film industry churned out a total of 112 feature films \u2013 <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/list\/ls023028731\/?sort=list_order,asc&#038;st_dt=&#038;mode=detail&#038;page=2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">102 films<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> released on the big screen and 10 that secured a digital release (films like <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Love Per Square Foot, Lust Stories, <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Laxmi and Tikli Bomb).<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Of these 102 films, only 22.5 per cent boasted of at least one female lead \u2013 the remaining 77.5 per cent were headlined by men. A grand total of nine films featured <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">only<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> female leads; these are <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Pari, Hichki, <a href=\"http:\/\/admin.arre.co.in\/bollywood\/raazi-movie-review-alia-bhatt-meghna-gulzar\/\">Raazi<\/a>, Veere Di Wedding, 3 Storeys, Love Sonia, Pataakha, Helicopter Eela, <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Pihu<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span>\n\n<blockquote class=\"quote--center\"><p>In Bollywood, designations such as \u201cmusic director\u201d and \u201clyricist\u201d are still predominantly reserved for men.<\/p><\/blockquote> \n\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Moreover, a mere 19.6 per cent of the films were written by women, 13.7 per cent were edited by women, and only 5.8 per cent were helmed by a female director. The year has seen only four female music directors (Rachita Arora for <em>Mukkabaaz<\/em>, Kanika Kapoor for <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bazaar<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, Sneha Khanwalkar for <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/admin.arre.co.in\/bollywood\/manto-movie-biopic-review-nandita-das\/\">Manto<\/a><\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and Jasleen Royal for <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hichki<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">), and just 3.8 per cent of the year\u2019s songs have been written by female lyricists. The numbers are a testament that designations such as \u201cmusic director\u201d and \u201clyricist\u201d are still predominantly reserved for men. <\/span>\n\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Another technical department that still continues to remain primarily masculine is cinematography: Out of 102, only one film (<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hate Story 4<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">) was shot by a woman. \n\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The picture doesn\u2019t get better if you zoom in on the year\u2019s top 25 films. Just four of these films (<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Pari, Hichki, Raazi, Veere Di Wedding<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">) featured all-women leads. It\u2019s a slight increase from last year, where only three of the year\u2019s top 25 films <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(MOM, <a href=\"http:\/\/admin.arre.co.in\/pop-culture\/lipstick-under-my-burkha-movie-review-konkona-sen-censorship\/\">Lipstick Under My Burkha<\/a>, Tumhari Sulu) <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">were female-led. On the bright side, the industry\u2019s archaic sexism against offering leading roles to married women seemed on the wane: In 2018, 28 per cent films were headlined by a married actress, as compared to 16 per cent last year. <\/span>\n\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1546078828.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"728\" height=\"407\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-43785\" \/>\n<figcaption>\n<p>A list of the year&#8217;s top 25 Hindi films.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yet, that surge is inconsequential when you note <a href=\"http:\/\/admin.arre.co.in\/bollywood\/selection-day-netflix-ratna-pathak-shah-ageist-bollywood\/\">Bollywood\u2019s<\/a> bias towards married male actors: At least 52 per cent of the year\u2019s top 25 films were headlined by married men, standard fare for Bollywood. Only three of the year\u2019s biggest films (<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Andhadhun, Badhaai Ho, Veere Di Wedding<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">) featured women who were older than their male counterparts. The business of objectification also soared as seven of the year\u2019s top 25 films included an \u201citem song\u201d. In fact, two of the year\u2019s biggest hits, <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Stree <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span> comprised two item songs each.\n\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What\u2019s even more disheartening is that the numbers have actually dipped from last year. Only 12 per cent of the year\u2019s top 25 films had a woman director as compared to last year\u2019s 16 per cent. The number of films written by women also went down from nine to eight. It\u2019s also a dip for women editors, directors of photography, even producers. Moreover, only two of the year&#8217;s top 25 films boast of a female music composer and just eight films have songs written by a female lyricist.<\/span>\n\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Meanwhile, there seems to be a massive disparity between the number of solo songs sung by male singers and female singers. Out of the 154 songs in the year\u2019s top 25 films, eight are solo songs sung by Arijit Singh alone. His closest female competitor is Sunidhi Chauhan, who sang two solo songs. In fact, it\u2019s only when you add up the solo songs sung by Chauhan, Rekha Bhardwaj (two), Shilpa Rao (one), Shubha Mudgal (one), Monali Thakur (one) and Shreya Ghoshal (one), that you get a total of eight songs. Clearly, Bollywood is yet to find itself a female Arijit Singh.<\/span>\n\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Basically, the representation of women in the seven main film departments (writer, editor, director, producer, music director, lyricist, cinematographer)  has been dismal. Only four films \u2013 <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Manto, Raazi, Hichki, Gold<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2013 out of the 25 meet three of these criteria. It\u2019s not difficult to glean why: They\u2019re all films where a woman is in charge. Only one film meets four criteria. (<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/admin.arre.co.in\/bollywood\/veere-di-wedding-bechdel-test-kareena-kapoor\/\">VDW<\/a><\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> had a female writer, editor, producer, and lyricist). <\/span>\n\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The full extent of this latent sexism is best evidenced in the first posters of the year\u2019s top 25 films. A first poster, which comes out even before a trailer is released, is sacrosanct in defining the film. And if the year\u2019s posters are any proof, most Hindi films seem to be marketed only to men.<\/span>\n\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1546078820.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"728\" height=\"407\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-43787\" \/>\n<figcaption>\n<p>The first poster of eleven of the year&#8217;s biggest films have no women. Not included in the collage is the first poster of <em>Sanju<\/em> that has five versions of Ranbir Kapoor.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This year, 44 per cent of first posters feature no women at all, a significant jump from last year\u2019s 32 per cent. Most of these films are big-budget superstar-led films, where the female leads are anyway reduced to props.<\/span>\n\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1546078832.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"728\" height=\"407\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-43784\" \/>\n<figcaption>\n<p>Only five films released first posters that feature only women.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In contrast, 20 per cent of the year\u2019s posters have <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">only<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> female actresses dominating the frame. Are women-backed films then the only way for actresses to take centre-stage? <\/span>\n\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1546078824.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"728\" height=\"407\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-43786\" \/>\n<figcaption>\n<p>Just eight films have both the leads on their first posters.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And like last year, 32 per cent of the year\u2019s posters allow a woman to command equal or supporting space. (Sriram Raghavan&#8217;s <em>Andhadhun <\/em>had a rare poster with no leads)<\/span>\n\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So, coming back to the question that everyone seems to be invested in: Has 2018 been a good year for <a href=\"http:\/\/admin.arre.co.in\/gender\/employment-women-negotiating-salary-equal-pay\/\">women<\/a>? The numbers don\u2019t lie and the answer is clear: It\u2019s going to take a long time before Bollywood can accommodate women \u2013 actresses, but also those behind the scenes \u2013 and open up opportunities on par with men. After all, female representation on screen is futile without inclusivity behind the scenes. Surely Bollywood can do better? <\/span>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>2018 marked the arrival of the \u201cselfish woman\u201d on screen, who dares to prioritise her own desires over social obligations: Think Tabu in Andhadhun and Radhika Madan in Pataakha. But has Bollywood really been more inclusive of women behind the scenes?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":103,"featured_media":3889,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3114],"tags":[141,7214,7215],"class_list":["post-3883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bollywood","tag-bollywood","tag-the-year-of-the-women","tag-women-in-bollywood"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>#Throwback 2018: This Year Belongs to Women on Screen. But What About those Behind the Scenes?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"2018 marked the arrival of the \u201cselfish woman\u201d on screen, who dares to prioritise her own desires over social obligations: Think Tabu in Andhadhun and Radhika Madan in Pataakha. 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