Throwback: When Raveena Tandon criticized gender disparity in Bollywood | Hindi Movie News Filmymeet

Bollywood actress Raveena Tandon once pointed out that gender bias is still rife in the Indian movie industry, especially in the way male and female actors are treated. She also highlighted how male and female actors of the same generation are described, using Aamir Khan and Madhuri Dixit as examples.

Tandon complained about how the media often refers to female actors with their age or the era they are from, for instance, ‘the superstar of the 90s’ and this is rarely seen with male actors.

“You don’t say ‘Superstar of the 90s Aamir Khan,’ but you do it with actresses like Madhuri Dixit,” she asked the industry.

Raveena Tandon shared her thoughts at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit 2022 and said, “When Aamir takes a break of 2-3 years and comes back with a movie, you don’t call it his comeback. You don’t say ‘superstar of the 90s’ Aamir Khan is with us today.’ Hum bhi lagatar kaam hi karte aarae hain (We have been working regularly too). But I see so many articles in the media about ‘superstar of the 90s’ Madhuri Dixit is now doing this.”
She pointed out that this kind of language diminishes the accomplishments of female actors and confines them to a certain period while male actors are free to grow and be celebrated in subsequent generations without such a label.

Raveena’s remarks brought to the limelight the problem of gender discrimination in Bollywood where actresses are sidelined once they reach a certain age unlike actors who are given more roles regardless of their age. This has been a common problem in the industry and her statement is an echo of what many other female actors have complained about in the past.