During a recent session, filmmaker Kiran Rao discussed the on-ground scenario of women working in films, expressing surprise at the revelation that less than 1% of screenwriters are female. She added that she finds it a cliché that merely having more women in such positions will bring about substantial change, but perception-wise and perspective-wise, it certainly helps to have more women directors.

A recent research report by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences revealed that on and off screen women and queer representation in box-office hits remains largely stereotypical.

Kiran noted how the report mentions “stalking as one of the most glorified forms of wooing a woman (in films) and films like that do exceedingly well.”

She cited Kabir Singh as an example and added, “Another very big film, which I find fascinating, was Bahubali 1 (Baahubali : The Beginning). It started off with this exciting fight sequence, where this woman is leaping from tree to tree, and she is a warrior. But the hero delicately strips her of her agency and makes her just a fantastic romantic interest. I find it fascinating. It is (one of) the biggest films of Indian cinema.”

Pointing out that despite conveying such a message, the film was a success, she said, “We are also an industry, (where) everything is measured by bums on seats. Everyone only looks at what’s your box-office (collection), and here you are with films which are doing exceedingly well with this kind of messaging.”

Talking about having more women in the film business Kiran said, “It’s a bit of a cliché to think that women coming into all these positions will change a lot of things. Honestly, gender sensitization across the board will help all of us, not just the numbers of women. But perception-wise and perspective-wise, it certainly helps to have more women directors, more women producers, and more women screenwriters. And we need to see more women handling positions that would traditionally be considered difficult roles, as women can take positions and deliver.”

Kiran added that she has been seeing a lot of change. “For instance, many of our OTTs are headed by women. Now, we see a lot of women in production roles, and producers say that they trust women more to do production roles. Even in real terms, women will ensure a safe environment, and that people are taken care of, working hours are more reasonable, especially when they are working with children and differently-abled people. Women directors and producers, I’m hoping, will have their radar on.”

Talking about her film Laapataa Ladies, which was screened at the Toronto International Film Festival this year, Kiran said that the idea was to speak to an audience that doesn’t want to discuss it. Giving an example, she said, “Even while doing Satyamev Jayate, we discussed that we are dealing with things that are so sensitive and touchy, and you still want to open up a little space in people’s perception. You want to change people’s point of view a little somewhere, and you can’t do that by alienating them. That’s something I take pretty seriously. How do you communicate to a mass that sees things entirely differently? How do we include them?