Aditi Rao Hydari: The term ‘women-oriented cinema’ reeks of sexism, needs to go

Women-centric films such as Rangoon, Naam Shabana, and Begum Jaan have created a lot of buzz and were the talk of the town in Bollywood in the days before and after their recent release, but actor Adito Rao Hydari is not pleased with the term ‘women-centric’ or ‘women-oriented’ and feels that it reeks of sexism.

“Women-oriented cinema... this phrase needs to go, needs to die out, because people don’t say hero-oriented, child-oriented or dog-oriented. A film is a story about people. That person can be a girl, a boy or anybody. Why are we always classist, sexist, or gender-biased? We don’t need to hear these things,” says Aditi. The actor was recently named Youth Icon of the Decade at the Women of the Decade awards, given by the Women Economic Forum in New Delhi.

While many speak of women-oriented cinema as a trend, Aditi says that giving women sufficient space in films should not be something that comes and goes with time.

“It is not a trend. A trend comes and goes, but stories are here forever. People and feelings are here forever and we are talking about them. It’s really not about [a] trend. I hope that women being given the limelight remains forever,” she says.

How does Aditi react when directors approach her with script for films labelled women-oriented? She says, “Like attracts like quite often, so people who come to a lot of people like me don’t even use these terms. They are people who believe what we believe. A lot of directors think like that, and there’s such a lot of different thoughts and energy that come with such people.”