With Vidya Balan essaying negative shade in Jailer 2, the actress explores a darker side of her screen persona, joining the club of alluring ladies who have successfully ventured into villainous roles.
“Why are we surprised when actresses enact dark roles?” asks producer M.S. Raju, who believes women are equally capable of portraying a wide range of characters. “Vidya probably wanted to try out something different,” he says.
He also cites Swasika’s character in Irumudi, which surprised audiences. “That is the difference when a male and a female actor portray such characters. You least expect a woman to behave in such a way,” he adds.
Raju believes such performances can open up exciting possibilities for actresses to showcase varied shades. He points to performances by Ramya Krishnan in Padayappa, Aishwarya Rai in Ponniyin Selvan and Rukmini Vasanth in Kantara 2 as examples of actresses raising the bar with powerful characters. “When a top actress takes such a role to the next level, more actresses are encouraged to give it a shot. Actress Sriya Reddy has made an impact with her performances in films such as Salaar and OG. Similarly, Varalaxmi Sarathkumar has rocked in films such as Krack and Veera Simha Reddy. These actresses have shown that women can convincingly play powerful antagonists and hold their own against stars like Ravi Teja and Balakrishna,” he points out.
While big-star films often continue to favour male villains, filmmakers have occasionally given actresses the opportunity to take on negative roles.
Citing Anasuya Bharadwaj’s character in Pushpa, he says, “In Pushpa, Anasuya’s dominating character, added a completely different dimension to the narrative, and audiences lapped it up.”
Grey roles allow women to bring different perspective. In Pushpa, Anasuya’s character, added completely different dimension to the narrative.”