Wednesday Wrap: Vidya Balan to Sanya Malhotra - these 5 female characters which broke the clutter on-screen!

These portrayals pushed boundaries and showed the audiences, that real women are not stereotypical but unique

Amid the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic and Cyclone Tauktae wrath, there's a feeling of lull everywhere. Staying safe and staying inside the home has been advised and there's very little recreational activity, that anybody can indulge in right now. Therefore, watching a film or a web series on OTT seems like the buffer zone. Today, we thought to explore the unconventional roles by female actors in the recent past.  The conventional Hindi film heroine is often one-dimensional, impossibly perfect and confined to song and dance routines. A few films in the recent past have however challenged these notions. Here are a few of such memorable characters. This 2012 Sujoy Ghosh directorial (he also co-produced the film) had a heroine who did not play second fiddle to anyone, drove the plot single-handedly, was the survivor of a tragedy and an avenger with a baby bump. Ghosh struggled a lot to get the film made because producers did not want to invest in a film where a pregnant woman was the lead star but Vidya Balan's self-assured histrionics and poise guided the film to box-office success and bushels of critical acclaim. 'Kahaani' proved that even modestly budgeted films with female stars can earn the big bucks. Much of the film's success came from the unwavering courage of the heroine who meticulously crafts a plan to smoke a mass murderer out of his hiding place and then without a moment's hesitation slays him while Durga Puja celebrations reach a crescendo around her.