Everyone is talking about it and it is seems to be an accepted truth now. That, if you are a glamorous Nayanthara, your salary is easily eight-figure. But here’s a less known fact — that, for every Nayanthara, there are actresses (some from her home state Kerala) who would show the door to any filmmaker who doesn’t want to feature her in a sari — full or half — or salwar kameez. Nothing less.
Everybody in Indian cinema is talking about fatter wallets and thinner waistlines today, but southern films still have their share of actresses who swear by their acting capabilities alone. While heroines upcountry are busy earning the ire of the Censor Board, many actresses here firmly state they wouldn’t mind giving a star-studded film a miss if it needs them to get ‘glamorous’ or shed a few layers of clothing. What is equally incredible is that these heroines haven’t been dismissed as ‘old’. They still find interesting offers and a rewarding market.
The fixation with the ‘five-song, swimsuit scene and lip-lock climax’ formula is so great that many of these actresses and their performance-oriented roles are being overlooked. Unworried about it, many of these leading ladies go about without much media attention too.
This policy is both a conscious choice and a clever decision. While their strict adherence to no-glamour roles has sometimes cost them dearly in terms of their roles, it has come in handy for many heroines who are looking at returning to films after marriage. Gopika, Kavya Madhavan and Bhumika Chawla, who are back to films after stepping into marital bliss, say roles still keep pouring in. A Tamil actress, on conditions of anonymity, says heroines can’t return after marriage, playing glamorous roles like earlier. And points to Simran, the most popular heroine of her times, who has been relegated to sister roles because she lost her sex appeal after marriage.
There, perhaps, is no better time to state this when one of the most successful of South Indian heroines, Meena, ended a 19-year successful career as heroine (one of the longest ever for a heroine in recent times) following her wedding last week. The popular actress, who courted international fame with the Rajinikanth starrer Muthu, is largely remembered as our most comely actress, who took to the safe, no-oomph role for most of her career. She did stray into the glamour route for a brief period but critics and filmmakers advised her that she had a bigger market with her girl-next-door simple roles, which gave her fodder, long after she had lost the young looks it took to stay as glamourous heroine. Thanks to her fans’ support for her home-girl image, Meena announced her plans to continue acting after marriage.
Then, there is actress Bhumika, who is on a signing spree now, two years after her wedding to Yoga guru Bharat Thakur. Speaking on the films she has signed now, Bhumika recalls her popularity for doing simple and realistic roles. “To that extent, marriage is no barrier. I will still continue to act in film for such roles.” So why did she never take to glamorous roles, despite her enviable figure? “I know what I look good in. I don’t have the attitude it takes to feature in skimpy clothes, and no qualms in not doing it.”
Karthika, Meera Nandan, Parvathy, Gopika, Kavya…and the list of heroines, who’d do anything but shed clothes for a role, is getting longer. Interestingly, most of these heroines hail from Kerala, that remains to be Deccan’s most popular haunt for directors looking to cast new faces. Ask them why they prefer demure, sari-clad roles, and more often than not, they say it is because they know they look better in such roles.
Actress Parvathy, who became famous overnight after her film Poo, says it’s also because she wants to be known as a performance-oriented
actress. “There aren’t many challenging roles for women in the film industry. And the few that do, don’t seem to need any skin-show on our part. Why would I complain about them?” she explains, even as she hurriedly adds that she would never do a role that exploits her physical appearance.
Supporting their argument is the consecutive failure of many films in recent times, which relied heavily on its heroines’ glamour quotient prior to release. Recent Tamil films such as Thoranai, Villu, Muthirai or Sathyam prove that it takes more than a heroine in skimpy clothes to ensure a film’s success.
— sharadha@epmltd.com