Konkona Sen Sharma, known for her strong performances and unique choice of roles, recently shared her thoughts on how the film industry treats female actors. With a career spanning 25 years, she reflected on whether things have improved for women when it comes to getting meaningful roles.
Konkona, who was recently seen in Metro… In Dino directed by Anurag Basu, said that there has been some change, but only in certain areas. She explained that smaller films and projects on streaming platforms are offering better opportunities to women. However, big budget films still focus mostly on male leads.
Speaking about this, she said, “In some ways, I think, to a certain extent, perhaps in smaller-budget films or OTT films, to a certain extent, yes. But if you follow the money (laughs), then you will see that larger films will inevitably have larger-than-life male heroes.”
She also pointed out that this is not a new issue. According to her, the industry has followed this pattern for many years. While there are always a few films that break away from the usual formula and offer strong roles, they are limited in number. She added, “I don’t think this is necessarily a problem of today, but I think it’s kind of been like this for many, many years. Every year, you will find a handful of interesting films, films that don’t follow trends or a certain formula, but those kinds of films are few and far between.”
Konkona also spoke about how streaming platforms have helped to some extent. She said that these platforms sometimes show women in more complex roles, such as police officers or characters with grey shades. However, she noted that such roles are often given to older women, with only a few exceptions.
The actress was last seen alongside Pankaj Tripathi and is now working on her upcoming series Welcome to Khoya Mahal, which she has co created with Jaydeep Sarkar