Actress Deepika Padukone, who headlined the cast of "Padmaavat" which was the highest-earning film of 2018, says that filmmakers now-a-days are "changing roles" in favour of a female protagonist, reports news agency IANS. Speaking to reports at an event in Mumbai, the 33-year-old actress said: "We are in place today where directors are changing roles and that's unheard of. If you have script that has male protagonist and suddenly directors are like, 'Let me just flip that. Let me just make that female protagonist and then go to so and so with the film' so, you hear of a film that was offered to a male actor two-three years ago and its coming back to you now with a female protagonist which is a huge achievement." For "Padmaavat," Deepika was paid more than her male co-stars Ranveer Singh and Shahid Kapoor.
Deepika Padukone also said that she can "see a trend where films that are being led by women are doing much better." Last year, Shah Rukh Khan's Zero and Aamir Khan's Thugs Of Hindostan was rejected by the cinephiles. Also, Salman Khan's Race 3 just managed a decent show at the ticket window.
Speaking about the box office performances of the films in 2018, Deepika said "everything boils down to the script itself." IANS quoted her as saying: "It's about the film. It's a different thing that the films that the Khans did, didn't work but there was film like AndhaDun which was led by Ayushmann Khurrana that did wonder at the box office so I think everything boils down to the script itself."
"As a creative person, I would not like to make this distinction of male driven or female driven film. I would just say that great content is what is really working right now. I think a lot of that has to do with the audience. They are ready for that. I don't think it matters anymore who is in the movie. I think year 2018 was clear indication of that. Right from the promo, poster all of that, I think that the audience has that pulse," she added.
Deepika Padukone will soon start filming Chhapaak with director Meghna Gulzar. The film, which Deepika co-produces, is inspired by the story of acid attack survivor Laxmi Agarwal.
(With inputs from IANS)
