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‘Akira’ Review: Female-Centric Bollywood Action Drama Suffers From Lazy Filmmaking
Any joy sparked from putting a woman front and center is dimmed by flat acting and a lack of logic.
Anisha Jhaveri
Sep 4, 2016 9: 51 am ?
Courtesy of Fox Star Studios
Resistance to the “female-centric” film is an affliction that has plagued Bollywood for most of its history; despite the few dozen films over the years that have proved actresses’ ability to hold their own without needing a male costar ( dating back to 1957’s Oscar-nominated “Mother India”) , screenplays that place women in the spotlight have been disappointingly infrequent.
Thankfully, with Vidya Balan’s “Kahaani” in 2012, Kangana Ranaut’s “Queen” in 2013, Deepika Padukone’s “Piku” in 2014 and Priyanka Chopra’s “Mary Kom” that same year, Bollywood has increasingly warmed up to the reality that female star power and strong stories can draw in crowds, box office returns, and critical acclaim. While you won’t see a fan following for an actress as rabid as that of, say, Salman Khan, the concept of a woman-oriented film is approached with less trepidation and more curiosity now than ever before by both filmmakers and audiences.