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Tamannaah Bhatia says that men in power positions don’t want to know a female actor’s opinions and implement them. She adds that often, their thoughts aren’t taken seriously.
Tamannaah Bhatia just had a release with Do You Wanna Partner, co-starring Diana Penty.
A bankable name for filmmakers across Bollywood and south film industries today, Tamannaah Bhatia turned heads with her glamorous avatars opposite male stars and sizzling dance numbers in a bunch of big-ticket films. At the same time, she has headlined female-led stories such as Babli Bouncer, Aakhri Sach, Odela 2 and Aranmanai 4. In fact, Aranmanai 4 co-starring Raashii Khanna, garnered Rs 100 crore, a significant milestone, especially for a female-led film from the Tamil film industry.
But instances like this are rare. Tamannaah, however, doesn’t want to blame filmmakers for not pumping money into female-led commercial films. “I don’t hold it personally against them. Filmmaking is a very expensive art form and it’s a calculated gamble where the risks are very high. People who truly embody that energy of championing women for real are the only ones who’ve been successful in making that kind of cinema,” she tells us.
The actor, who just had a release with Do You Wanna Partner, co-starring Diana Penty, adds, “So, it’s actually a good thing that those people are only making and backing such films. Less or more is a secondary point of conversation but I feel most people won’t survive it if they don’t even feel it.” However, the one thing that often bogs her down is how women still need to fight the battle of putting their opinions across, which may sometimes lead men in power positions to shut them down.
“Ours is a visual-medium and it’s more glamour-led in a commercial format. And here, I feel, people are okay for you to be seen but not heard. They don’t want to know your opinion and they don’t want to implement your opinion. They don’t take your opinions seriously either. Ambitious women could intimidate men – men who aren’t feeling secure enough. But woh toh mardon ki problem hai na. It’s not really the women’s problem,” states Tamannaah.
But instead of this shortcoming, she chooses to look at the silver lining of being a woman actor in 2025. For Tamannaah, this is the day and age for grey characters to thrive and be accepted by the audience. “Back in the day too, there were many subjects that were led by women. Women played strong characters even then but now, it’s a little more frequent. But the one thing that’s actively happening today is that female characters are a lot more nuanced,” the Baahubali and Jee Karda actor remarks.
The number of women on a film set is still lesser than men but there’s hope, believes Tamannaah. “Complex roles weren’t acceptable back in the day. So, that difference is definitely there. But the only way this could change even more is when commercial films headlined by women does big numbers. My quest as an actor is to lead more projects and while I do that, I need to ensure that they’ve the potential to bring in those numbers. I don’t see how else things can change,” she points out.
Titas Chowdhury is a Principal Correspondent at News18 Showsha. She writes about cinema, music and gender in cinema. Interviewing actors and filmmakers, writing about latest trends in showbiz and bringing break…Read More
Titas Chowdhury is a Principal Correspondent at News18 Showsha. She writes about cinema, music and gender in cinema. Interviewing actors and filmmakers, writing about latest trends in showbiz and bringing break… Read More
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September 13, 2025, 04:31 IST
