Taapsee Pannu is busy promoting her upcoming film Gandhari, but she has also spoken about how failure of female-led films can have a much bigger impact on their contemporaries.
In a recent conversation with Zoom TV, she explained how the failure of Alia Bhatt-led Alpha affected her own projects.
Taapsee said, “One thing I've noticed, and people have been asking me this lately, is that when you put money into a film or mount an action film on a female actor — which is not a conventional genre for a woman — people ask, ‘Why doesn't it work?' If you put money into it, make it a big film, and it doesn't work, then how will anyone invest money again? I have only one question. The big, male-driven film that money is invested in—does it always have an impeccable storyline?”
According to her, if there is a male-driven action film, or any kind of big-budget film, and the story is 15 or 20—let's say 19 or 20—even if it is 15 or 20, it will work. But our measuring yard is different. “If so much money is invested in a female-driven film, there is an expectation that, forget 19 or 20, you have to deliver 21. You cannot go wrong,” she mentioned.
She noted that such budgets are often considered “big” only in relative terms. She added, “All of our leading actresses who want to do films where we lead the story—it impacts all of us. All of our films get shelved. I can tell you from my own experience: if there is a big female-driven flop in a particular year, then the conversations I have with investors change. Investors back out.”
When asked if she experienced this after Alpha failed at the box office, Taapsee said, “Yes. Every year it happens. The conversations are like, ‘These days, female-driven films are not working. If such a big superstar's film is not working, then what will happen to the rest? That's why we won't make them now. Women-driven cinema is not popular now.'”
Taapsee added that this can result in several projects being abandoned altogether.
However, Taapsee also pointed out the opposite side of such films.
“When someone else's film becomes popular, suddenly there are new phone calls. People say, ‘Let's attempt this genre. This is working.' Suddenly, if a horror movie is doing well and it is driven by a female actor, they call and say, ‘With a female, we can make horror. That has worked',” she said.
Taapsee's latest Gandhari is streaming on Netflix.
