‘Bollywood is messed up for women'- Mallika Sherawat's recent revelation proves it once again

Bollywood has always given male actors more importance. Be it the remuneration or screen time, over the years, there have been fewer women-centric movies than those that solely focused on the male lead. What’s more, while male actors got to experiment and evolve, women were typecast, and it is very rare that women are given a very good, offbeat role where they can show their talent.

Bollywood does follow patriarchy and one of the best example of this regressive mindset is that actors in their fifties and nearing sixties continue to romance young girls who are in their twenties. It is all acceptable. From the unbelievable Akshay Kumar -Radhika Madan to Salman Khan-Disha Patani/Pooja Hegde pairing, male superstars defy all the rules. In contrast, women rarely get a chance to romance a younger hero in commercial films.

But Murder actress Mallika Sherawat put her foot down when she was approached to play the role of Ishaan Khatter’s mother in The Royals. Later on, the role went to Sakshi Tanwar. There is hardly a difference of 19 years between the Jalebibai dancer and Ishaan. But she hardly looks like Ishaan’s mother. On the other hand, male superstars who are aging and look old continue to romance actresses 25 years younger than them.

According to Mallika, “I was promised something and what translated looked very lame to me on paper. I felt cheated and let down, So, then I didn’t want to be a part of that.”

While Mallika who was last seen in Rajkummar Rao and Triptii Dimri’s Vicky Aur Vidya Ka Woh Wala Video took a stand and rejected this role many actresses take up such characters where they play mother to a hero who is even older than them because they want to sustain in the film industry.

Mallika rejected role as ishaans mother in the royals. she said, "I was promised something, and what translated looked very lame to me on paper. I felt cheated and let down I didn't want to be a part of that." The role eventually went to Sakshi Tanwar.
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For example, Shefali Shah played the role of Akshay Kumar ’s mother in Waqt: The Race Against Time even though she is 4 to 5 years younger than him. Recently when Mallika Sherawat opened up about her experience a web user commented, “Bollywood is messed up for women.”

Another user said, “She doesn’t look like his mother. And good for her for standing her ground, if she was promised something else then they should have honoured their promise.” Many users congratulated Mallika for taking this stand. They said, “Good, she stood up for herself. It enrages me when actresses are just thrown under the bus at a certain age, but male stars much older than them are still playing young adults” and “Big sister, but mother? Come on! She is so pretty.”