Juhi Chawla: Back in the 90s, the Entire Set Would be Dominated by Men | Exclusive

Prime Video’s recently released drama Hush Hush is a series that is very strongly taken ahead by the cast and crew which is mainly led by women. It also marks the big digital debut of Juhi Chawla who plays Ishi Sangamitra, a powerful and dynamic lobbyist.

While Bollywood has had a chequered history when it comes to portraying feminism and women in films, things have changed and female actors and filmmakers are taking charge and calling the shots. Chawla, who has been working for more than three decades, sees a positive shift when it comes to female characters.

“Back in the 90s, the entire set would be dominated by men, there would hardly be two to three women which would be the actress, her hairstylist and the mother or some assistant," the actor explains, adding, “Today, I see that more than 50 percent of the crew is women which is really amazing. Working on Hush Hush was a liberating experience as I had all the freedom to interact with Tanuja (Chandra, the director). I literally harrowed her (laughs) as I wanted to know every little detail about my scene. I don’t know if I would have been able to do it with same ease with a male director."

The Gulaab Gang actor is happy to observe that women are taking centre-stage in narratives. “Recently, Ayesha said that a lot of our films used to be men-centric, so women’s stories were unheard. Maybe now is the time to tell them. I think what is selling is not men or women, it is the stories. Audiences aren’t fools and they have an IQ and EQ and they don’t want to see anything that is nonsense. It is content that is selling which should have been the case all along. "

Apart from Chawla, the show also features Ayesh Jhulka, one of her contempoariries from the 90s. the OTT space currently is replete with successful female actors from the 1990s including Madhuri Dixit, Raveena Tandon, Sushmita Sen and many others.

Ask her about how they are reigning the streaming platforms and she says, “People want to see us and filmmakers are ready to cast us so we are really thankful to everyone. It is an amazing time to be an actor. Because of OTT and the kind of stories that are being told, there are no commercial constraints. People are consuming better content. There are so many stories about women that are being made. Hence, so many good roles for female actors."

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