Divas light up women-centric movies

New sensation Payal Rajput of 'RX 100' fame, beginning to shoot for her maiden women-centric film under the direction of Bhanu Shankar and produced by C Kalyan, has given a fillip to waning women-centric movies. Another young diva Aishwarya Rajesh, has resolved to carry a film on her slender shoulders with sports-centric film 'Kowsalya Krishnamurthy' (remake of Tamil film 'Kanaa) to join other new-age stars like Keerthy Suresh (doing another female-centric movie for producer Mahesh Koneru after 'Mahanati'), Nandita Raj (Viswamithra). "It is good that young divas are trying their hand in women-centric films. Because filmmakers can explore new themes with them. Instead of staple horror flicks, these young starlets are doing action and sport-centric movies to offer variety. That's a good move," says producer Aswini Dutt.

With Anuskha, Nayantara ageing gracefully and cutting down on author-backed roles, there is enough space for their successors to carry the flag of lady-oriented movies. "Anushka and Nayantara have moved to the next level and carved a niche for themselves. Right now, only these two actresses can pull in crowds on the strength of their names, while others will take more time to catch up with them, although Keerthy Suresh is gaining ground," says Bandla Ganesh, who feels that women-centric as a genre needs to be promoted more in Telugu. "Bollywood has opened up well for the likes of Kangana, Kareena, Rani Mukerjee and even Ali Bhat, so Telugu heroines should also get fair chance to prove their acting chops in author-backed role in the days to come," adds Ganesh.

We also have to see the fate of Tamannaah who is doing 'That is Mahalakshmi' and pinning hopes on the remake of B-town hit 'Queen' to score her maiden hit in the lead role. 'Women protoganist is the need of the hour since actresses like Tamannaah and Kajal have proved their mettle opposite stars and now treading a new path," reasons director Neelankanta who feels that hits and flops are part of any genre and can't blame actresses for flops in this genre. 'Why blame actresses for poor scripts, even heroes are unable to salvage wafer-thin plots, so its combination of good script and actor/actress that could spell box office magic." he concludes.