Female Filmmakers Who Are Defining New Styles Of Films In An Otherwise Male Dominated Indian Industry
Updated : November 10, 2018 04:08 PM IST
In the supremacy of male directors in Bollywood, there is scarcity in the number of female directors. The disparity also can be seen in award shows where one woman stands with many male directors in a battle for recognition. Despite this, many female directors are continuously experimenting with their movies and prove this misogynist tendency of Bollywood wrong. At Cannes 2017, the only Indian entry is from a female director, Payal Kapadia, a student at the Film and Television Institute of India and Her 13-minute short movie, Afternoon Clouds, is the first Indian film to be selected for the Cine foundation section, which chooses entries from film schools worldwide.
There are also lots of female directors who did not make any movie after their debut due to its failure. But besides such failure, there is a huge amount of successful and blockbuster movies as well. Even many of the female directors have done some kind of experiments with their movies and with their cast as well like in Margherita, With a straw (2014), Shonali Bose did a great experiment which turned out to be the best performance of Kalki Koechlin. Kiran Rao did experiment with her first debut an artistic movie Dhobi Ghat (2010). Great kind of variations has been done by female directors in Bollywood which shows their will to change the cliche pattern of Bollywood movies.
Here's taking a look at some incredible work done by female directors in Bollywood.
ZOYA AKHTAR- Zindagi Milegi Na Dobara, Luck By chance, Dil Dhadakne Do, Lust Story, Gully Boy
Female Filmmakers Who Are Defining New Styles Of Films In An Otherwise Male Dominated Indian Industry
The director of the blockbuster movies like Zindagi Milegi Na Dobara, which was the one of the most hyped movies of Bollywood. She made her directorial debut with Luck By Chance(2009) for which she won the best debut director award at the Filmfare Aewards. Her film Dil Dhadakne Do was a family drama which was indeed a masterpiece.
MIRA NAIR- Mississipi Masala, The Namesake, The Golden Lion, Salaam Bombay, Monsoon Wedding
Female Filmmakers Who Are Defining New Styles Of Films In An Otherwise Male Dominated Indian Industry
Source: Letterbox
A longtime activist and an Indian- American filmmaker is best known for her films Mississipi Masala, The Namesake, The Golden Lion, Monsoon Wedding and Salaam Bombay. She mostly emphasized social issues in her movies, which left great footprints in Bollywood history, well the film did not do well at the box office but it won many international awards. Salaam Bombay won 23 international awards and also nominated at Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film.
Source: The Express Tribune
FARAH KHAN- Mai Hoon Na, Om Shanti Om, Tees Maar Khan, Happy New Year
Female Filmmakers Who Are Defining New Styles Of Films In An Otherwise Male Dominated Indian Industry
She is best known for her choreographic dance work in numerous Bollywood movies. Besides this, she debuted with blockbuster movie Mai Hoon Na starring Shah Rukh Khan and Sushmita Sen, which was an Indian comedy-drama film. After that, she moved to direct again a Bollywood blockbuster movie Om Shanti Om. It was Deepika's first Bollywood movie and had a great influence on Bollywood.
APARNA SEN- 36 Chwringbee Lane, Paroma, Sati, Yugant, Mr. & Mrs. Iyer, Iti Mrinalini, The Japanese Wife
Female Filmmakers Who Are Defining New Styles Of Films In An Otherwise Male Dominated Indian Industry
Source: Bollywood Hungama
She is an Indian filmmaker who is known for her work in Bengali Cinema. She made her debut as a film director with 36 Chwringbee Lane and for this, she won The Best Director Award at the Indian National Film Awards. It also won the Grand Prix (the Golden Eagle) at the Manila International Film Festival. Her Paroma(1984) won the Silver Lotus at National Award for Best Bengali film, Yugant (1989) also won the National Award for best Bengali film. Sen directed her first and only Hindi film Saari Raat in 2015.
MEGHNA GULZAR- Raazi, Talwar, Dus Kahaniyan
Female Filmmakers Who Are Defining New Styles Of Films In An Otherwise Male Dominated Indian Industry
The daughter of great lyricist and poet Gulzar. Initially, Meghna was working as a writer after that she moved towards her first debut which was Filhaal, but it did not receive a good response. But she came back with thriller film Raazi starring Alia Bhatt as an Indian Spy. The film was an adaptation of Harinder Sikka’s novel calling Sehmat which was inspired by real events. Eventually, the movie received a great response and grossed over 100 crores at the box office.
RIMA KAGATI- Gold, Talaash, Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd.
Female Filmmakers Who Are Defining New Styles Of Films In An Otherwise Male Dominated Indian Industry
Source: TellyChakkar
Reema Kagti has worked as an assistant director with many leading directors and then she made her impressive directorial debut with movie Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd. In 2006. Her next movie was Talaash a thriller drama and had a big buzz. Her upcoming movie is Gold starring Akshay Kumar, Mouni Roy, Kunaal Kapoor. This film is basically a sports drama and based on true incidents about India winning its first Gold Medal in Hockey.
SHONALI BOSE- Margharita With Straw, Amu, Chittagong
Female Filmmakers Who Are Defining New Styles Of Films In An Otherwise Male Dominated Indian Industry
Source: TellyChakkar
A very talented an Indian filmmaker, giving back to back award-winning movies. She started her filmmaking career with film Amu which was based on her own novel. And if we talk about a number of awards it is very high actually, and these numbers were continuously increasing with her next movie as well which was Margharita with straw, featuring Kalki Kochelin as a disabled person on a journey of self-discovery. And no doubt it was a tough task in Bollywood to perform but she did it brilliantly. Now Bose is in the preparation to direct an untitled drama movie on a motivational speaker Aisha Choudhary.
TANUJA CHANDRA- Qarib Qarib Single, Sangharsh, Sur, Dushman, Zindagi Rocks
Female Filmmakers Who Are Defining New Styles Of Films In An Otherwise Male Dominated Indian Industry
She did unique experiments in Bollywood which were rare to see. It will be great to say that her movies are kind of female oriented because frequently she made her movies by taking actresses as protagonists. She did Qarib Qarib Single in 2017 starring Irfan Khan and Parvathy and it was a romantic comedy movie. This movie received praise for the story of movie.
GAURI SHINDE- English Vinglish, Dear Zindagi
Female Filmmakers Who Are Defining New Styles Of Films In An Otherwise Male Dominated Indian Industry
A very talented, hardworking and on stage a great runner Gauri Shinde, beautifully started her debut with highly acclaimed movie English Vinglish. The best part of this debut was that it marked the comeback of Sridevi. And it received a heart-warming response in Bollywood and won many awards and one of it was Best Debut director award 2012.
Well, this count will go on like this because eventually there are so many female directors in Bollywood who are working brilliantly, many of them received so much love from Bollywood and received so many awards.