Female-centric films may have struck gold at the box office of late, but actress Divya Dutta says audiences are still fixated on the heroes.
“We are a male dominated society where we want to know ‘who is the hero of the film?’. I am talking about the masses who first ask that and then, ‘oh, so who’s the heroine?’. The heroine is always the plus. But a hero defines everyone’s characters or roles in the industry,” said Dutta.
The Badlapur actress, who has worked in films such as Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, Veer-Zaara and Special 26, feels there is a risk of getting “stereotyped” by the audience depending on the role an actress is playing with a male star in a film.
“You play a heroine once with a top hero, even if you don’t act for a long time, or change roles, you will always be the heroine because you worked with a star. You were opposite him,” she said.
“Even if you play a villain in a film, where you are not right next to the man, you will always be a villain. You will be offered fifty thousand roles which are only that because you set an example by playing a negative character against the hero.”
“There is a major section of the audience who consider films male and female oriented. Having said that, if you give them a nice commercial film with a heroine oriented subject, then will enjoy that too. It’s not like there is ‘phase’ now,” she added.
Dutta will be next seen in the upcoming Manoj Bajpayee starrer Traffic which releases on May 6 in India.
The actress says she does not have a soft spot for a particular genre.
“Films are offered to you by the dozen every day. What you choose out of those is all heart and intuitive. If I feel I am going to enjoy it, then great. I’ve left the biggest of films because something inside didn’t feel right. Genres don’t matter to me at all,” she said.
