The modern Indian woman is an achiever, a go getter, scaling new heights every day and constantly re-inventing herself. She has evolved into an independent, intelligent, confident and resilient individual, intact with all her charm and beauty.

She is as always the eternal embodiment of love, compassion and kindness, gracefully balancing her home and career.

Amidst all the path- breaking accomplishments and transformations of women over the years both in India and the world over, the representation of the contemporary Indian woman in Tamil Cinema is extremely dismal and disheartening. With the exception of a few directors and script writers who have churned out some memorable, positive and strong roles for women, the rest have fallen into the trap of typecasting female actors into one broad category-“EYECANDY”. She is a miniscule part of the film, a diversion of some kind, prancing around in scanty costumes for a few songs and scenes and then vanishes into obscurity. Under the garb of “comedy”, she is referred to using the most derogatory, odious and abusive language and depicted as a mindless creature with no morals, values or scruples. Women actors in most films are invariably slotted into one or more of the following categories: a. A helpless damsel in distress waiting for her hero to rescue and save her from the clutches of the creepy villain. (who tortures, taunts and insults her in the most innovative of ways) b. A brazen vixen who lusts after the male lead and humiliates herself to get the hero’s attention by stooping down to any level to do the most lewd, vulgar and most despicable of things. c. None of the above, she is just a dumb bimbette (who of course is in love with the hero, she has to be right??!!) appears for a few songs and sequences in skimpy, tasteless clothes for the front benchers and then mysteriously disappears for the remainder of the film. d. As a loathsome, villainous, vampish character with a masculine voice (What’s with the weird, husky voice?) e. The omnipresent - loving mother, sister, wife or daughter (again tormented, abused and killed by the villain, so that the hero can avenge their deaths!!!-how convenient!!!) f. Last but not the least how can we forget the “item girls” in “item numbers” who give the audience cheap thrills? Quite a variety-right!!

And for some unknown reason, they have an annoying, overtly saccharine, child-like voice, except option d. of course!!! We seriously need to have more dubbing artists! There have been some good scripts for women in the past like Sindu Bairavi, Keladi Kanmani, Pudhumai Penn, Magalir Mattum, Roja, Kandukondein Kandukondein, Autograph, and more recently Mozhi to name a few. The women in these films had character, dignity, and strength. The commercial success of all these above mentioned projects is proof that the audience is appreciative of a wholesome script, based on women, without skin show, violence and vulgarity. The need of the hour is script writers and directors who need to come up with strong women- based subjects and male leads with the chutzpah, confidence and spirit to star in such films not caring about their so called “image “or star status. The screenplay can and should incorporate glamour, comedy, music and dance which complement women, not demean them. Women actors should refuse to be part of projects which showcase them in a bad light. It is a battle, which has to be waged, fought and won, by WOMEN! Cinema is a powerful medium and reaches out to millions of impressionable minds the world over, and it is the duty of everybody in this business to make use of their power responsibly to create quality films, steering clear of age-old stereotypes and outdated methodology. The time has arrived to honor, celebrate and empower women-SO BRING IT ON!!!