Glam divas take up roles with grey shades

Recent examples of leading ladies – Anushka Shetty, Regina Cassandra and Seerat Kapoor – coming up with standout performances have pleasantly surprised the audiences.  

Within the limited screen space and role plays that Telugu heroines enjoy, it has often been a difficult one for the talented among them to showcase their skill sets and histrionic abilities. The public never seem to be tiring of the superhero antics, yet have not failed to notice and appreciate the efforts of the glam divas when they break the pre-set moulds and emerge as a performer of merit in their films

Taking up a serious topic like multiple personality disorder, Prashant Varma seems to have discovered new pastures of film making and also gave handful of chances for his many heroines in the film like Nithya Menen, Regina Cassandra and Kajal Aggarwal to bring to life the dimensions of this affliction. 

Managing to give individual characterisations to these heroines, who have often been used as eye candy, barring Menen, the director has re-oriented their image and enabled the watching public to reassess their capabilities too.

 Earlier, ‘Bhaagamathie’, for all its spooky and scary noises managed to appeal with its workable combination of horror and crime, allowing a lot of grey shades in the heroine Anushka’s character, who essayed the lead role. Using a method thus, director G Ashok had enabled a lot of scope for the protagonist, who lapped it up well.

The surprise of course was the film ‘ Okka Kshanam’, which had Seerat Kapoor breathing life into the character of a suicide-prone girl, given to mood swings, meeting a gory end. Director Vi Anand had taken up a sci-fi topic of how two people end up leading the same kind of lives and used historical examples to justify his film. 

Even though, the film got noticed initially, it could not whip up magic at the cash counters. Yet, showing a medical condition and building an entire film around it to keep the audience interest sustained calls for a bold attempt, which was made possible by the performances of the heroines who were picked up for the roles.

With changing audience preferences and alternate viewing platforms emerging for the modern day Telugu film viewer, it pays to recast old role models and take up newer ones. Blending it well with the compulsions of the box office, some directors have thus taken off. 

In the process, they have unearthed new talents, hitherto unexposed in the sultry sirens who were merely used for their sex appeal through and through. It may take time, but Telugu cinema has to change for the better and do it in good time.