An Indian actress and the former head of Central Board of Film Certification Sharmila Tagore says that why there are very few scripts for the senior female actors. She says that there are few scripts written on keeping elderly actresses in mind, but for the male counterparts, it is not the same.
Sharmila says that there are so many scripts which are written for the male actors and why not the same is happening with the female actors. Does it means that the girl has to be very young while the man can carry on forever? But the one has to accept that life does not stop for the women after a young age. In Sharmila’s time life stopped at 30 or 40, but it does not have to because there are a lot of interesting phases in the life which you never know that the audience might like. Sharmila made her acting debut at the age of 13 with the movie ‘Apur Sansar’, which was made by the director Satyajit Ray.
For her strong portrayals in the movies like ‘Mausam’, and’ Abar Aranye’ Sharmila got many awards which also includes multiple National Awards. She did many powerful roles in the movies such as ‘Nirjan Saikate’, ‘Anupam’, ‘Kashmir Ki Kali’, ‘An Evening In Paris’, Aradhana’. She also the recipient of the Padma Bhushan award.
However, Sharmila still faces the camera once in a while and she has observed that there are many changes which that has happened in the industry. She said that when she used to work, acting was considered to be a very good profession, but she thinks that now the time has changed from then to now. Now, the movies have become a very coveted profession and in today’s time, the role of a woman is becoming more stronger such as movies like ‘Piku’ and ‘Neerja’ which are being made and they did so well. She feels that the multiplex culture helped filmmaking evolve and it has taken away all the charms of the big screen phenomenon.
In her times, Sharmila says that if two or three big movies were ready to hit the screens like for example movies of Dilip Kumar or Raj Kapoor then the smaller movies actually have to wait for its release. Now, the movie ‘Newton’ got released, a ‘Masaan’ gets released and both the movies got a good niche od audience. The screen phenomenon that they were having was a really wonderful to see and at that all the kind of audience used to watch the movie. Multiplexes do not get that because you have a very niche and they were having an elite crowd and nevertheless, it has always helped the filmmakers.
At that time, actresses could not do negative roles, but in today’s time you can easily do and people accept you for doing that even. So she says that Hindi cinema is in a very good place. Today’s generation heroine gets to play more varied roles. She has also tenure as the head of CBFC in the past and feels that there is no need for an environment where the makers of the film can create good content and without feeling worried.
She feels that the first three days of the movie are very important because if there is a ban or some other kind of threat is there and if the audience does not come to the theaters so it can badly harm the film. It is very natural then the filmmakers get worried about the movie. There are certain movies in the Hindi cinema which cannot be passed by the Censors Board and the makers of the movie have to take certain precautions while making a movie. But she says that all of us have to create such environment where people can create movies without actually getting worried. Moreover, she says that the one should work towards the freedom of the speech and less on curbing it.
She says that the best solution over censorship is that if the makers of the film are making the movie with an adult content the give it ‘A’ certificate, but at least allow a movie to get released without any cuts. Sharmila Tagore says that Prasoon Joshi is the current chairperson of the Central Board Of Film Certification and he is very liberal with his thoughts.