On the occasion of Women’s Day Ghaint Punjab thought of talking to our very own women from Punjab film industry and ask them a question which we thought needs immediate attention!

Punjabi film industry is undoubtedly a male dominated industry and more often we see successful singers becoming actors for which they're even paid a whooping signing amount.

On the contrary, the lead actress gets not even a third of that sum and has to strive hard to maintain her position in the industry because of the major gender biasing that Pollywood has.

(OMG! This Punjabi Singer & His Father Have Just Been Booked In A Fraud Case)

We haven't seen many women centric films even in Bollywood that have been successful. In Punjabi industry all that we saw was a Needhi Singh last year and was it accepted the way it should have been?? I doubt!

Channo on the other hand made some noise at the box office but people weren't very supportive of seeing such films in future.

What happens then..the producer takes a back step from investing in such projects.

So that is the plight that our Punjabi babes face everyday but what's that one thing they feel needs immediate attention in the Punjabi industry??

Here's what they want to change:

Monica Gill 

The Ambarsariya actress who gave three super hit movies back to back in 2016 says, "I wish there were more women centric or more diverse and stronger roles written for female leads."Considering the emphasis and awareness around women empowerment, depiction of substantial female characters in Punjabi movies would create a mind shift in audiences thus bringing them into equilibrium with their male counterparts.”

Mandy Takhar 

British Punjabi Mandy has been in the industry since long but still we haven’t seen her doing a strong role. Be it her debut movie Mirza or Ishq Garrari, where she was the lead face, Mandy was never made to do an exceptional kind of character. Even in her recent film Ardaas, being a multi-starrer, she was left with a very short screen time.

She said, “The women need to be paid better. The budget kept for the leading lady of the film is something kept as a discussion for right at the end and a lot of haggling happens. It’s mentally exhausting. By the end of it you feel disrespected as you feel the value you as an actress will bring to the film is not only taken for granted but completely undervalued. I feel its deliberate gender bias.”

An honest statement coming from an actress who has worked with big production houses. Think about those who have been working with the smaller ones!

Simi Chahal

The actress who made us notice her from her very first movie Bambukhat shared that “Good scripts and content driven characters should be offered to females in Punjabi film industry. Movies where the girls can be protagonists too, not just the men. Mostly the actors are given bigger roles and the movies revolves around them. The producers should take that kind of risk and make something new and fresh for the audiences."

Sonam Bajwa

Sonam made her debut with 'Best of Luck' opposite Gippy Grewal and later did super hit projects like Punjab 1984 and more. When asked about what she wanted to change in Punjabi industry, she said, “I  would like if the lead actresses get as big roles and characters to play in the films as the male actors. There should be equality in division of roles and not just actors taking the whole movies when actresses are equally talented."

Freshly entered talent Poppy Jabbal was asked about the same and here's what she had to say:

"I hope that there are more inspiring biopics on inspiring women which work as inspiration for generations to come."

Overall each one of them feels that there is scope for better roles and money for female artists in Punjabi industry.

Hope the producers are listening!

 

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