Manoj Bajpayee: ‘The Heroine Has Been Coming as a Hero for a Long Time’

Manoj Bajpayee believes that while mainstream Bollywood has traditionally revolved around male protagonists, women have been leading films for years, slowly and steadily. The actor made the point during a discussion on whether the big screen continues to be male-dominated and whether female actors will take considerable time to be accepted as protagonists in the same way as male actors.

“The heroine has been coming as a hero for a long time. I remember so many films of Vidya Balan. I remember Kajol’s movies too. It is taking its time, but it’s happening. What is good that is happening. And it has been happening for a long time, right?” Bajpayee said. He added that the arrival of OTT platforms had made women-led stories more frequent because the financial stakes involved in such projects were not as high as those associated with theatrical productions. “And with OTT, it’s happening more frequently because the stake is not that high,” he said.

Bajpayee also broadened the discussion beyond women-led films, pointing out that OTT platforms had created opportunities for male actors who were unable to find the right fame in mainstream cinema. “Look at the actors who could not even get rightly consumed earlier. Male actors could not even get consumed by mainstream cinema. They are getting so much respect on OTT,” he said. “And their lifestyle is maintained. They are finding some kind of comfort in their life because of all those roles that they have been getting,” he added.

Vidya Balan has led films such as The Dirty Picture, Kahaani and Sherni, while Kajol has headlined character-driven work from Dushman to The Trial. On the professional front, Bajpayee was recently seen in Gajab Raat, a suspense thriller starring Divya Dutta and directed by Ritesh Shah, which premiered on Netflix on October 23.

Here is the Filmverse take: Bajpayee’s framing is worth noting because it pushes back against the usual narrative that women-led cinema is a new phenomenon waiting for permission. His examples — Vidya Balan carrying Kahaani, Kajol headlining character-driven work across decades — argue that the shift has already happened and the industry’s memory is simply short. His OTT point is the sharper one: streaming did not invent the woman-led film, but it lowered the cost of betting on one, turning occasional exceptions into a regular pipeline. The test now is whether theatres follow the same logic, or whether women-led stories remain a streaming privilege while cinemas still wait for a male star to open a film.

Sources: Bilkul Online