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By:

Bharati Dubey

17 May 2026 at 1:38:10 am

Alpha, Alia and the business of female stardom

Mumbai: For all the progress Hindi cinema likes to claim, one uncomfortable truth keeps returning to the surface and that is, the industry still does not know how to build women into lasting theatrical phenomena. Alia Bhatt’s Alpha is only the latest reminder. The mixed reaction to it at the box-office and the negativity on social media has exposed something larger than BO arithmetic. It has reopened the old question of why female-led films in Bollywood are still treated as exceptions and not...

Alpha, Alia and the business of female stardom

Mumbai: For all the progress Hindi cinema likes to claim, one uncomfortable truth keeps returning to the surface and that is, the industry still does not know how to build women into lasting theatrical phenomena. Alia Bhatt’s Alpha is only the latest reminder. The mixed reaction to it at the box-office and the negativity on social media has exposed something larger than BO arithmetic. It has reopened the old question of why female-led films in Bollywood are still treated as exceptions and not as part of the mainstream commercial fare. That question matters because Alia is not an untested performer. In fact, she is one of the most accomplished stars of her generation, with both critical and commercial credibility. She has already shown that she can anchor a film, shape public curiosity and carry emotional complexity with ease. And yet, the moment a project like Alpha enters the market, it is often judged against an unfairly narrow standard of not whether it is good cinema, but whether a woman-led film can ‘open’ like a male-led event film. That context is part of the problem. While Hindi cinema has always been willing to admire strong women on screen, it has been less willing to consistently pay for them in theatres and that gap shows up long before a film reaches the box office. It shows up in the budget sheet, the release strategy and the number of screens a distributor is willing to risk. Start with money. Female-led films are routinely marketed on a fraction of what a comparable male-led film receives. Fewer promotional windows, fewer brand tie-ins and fewer high-value trailer drops. A film can be well-reviewed and still walk into its opening weekend with a fraction of the visibility that shapes first-day collections. In an industry where opening numbers set the narrative for a film’s entire run, that is not a small handicap, it is often decisive. Female Characters This is not a new issue. The industry has produced unforgettable female characters and a few rare female superstars, but the Indian film system has rarely built sustained institutions around them. The rare exceptions being Meena Kumari, Vyjanthimala, Hema Malini and Sridevi. The last, Sridevi, emerged at a time when economics and number-game started taking precedence in the cinematic evolution of Bollywood. From being the glamourous prop to the hero in Himmatwala (1983) and Tohfa (1984) to having films written around her with Nagina (1986), Mr India (1987), Chandni (1989), Chaalbaaz (1989), Lamhe (1991) and Khuda Gawah (1992), she turned the tables around for heroines and continues to remain the clearest historical example of what a true female star in Indian cinema can look like. At her peak, Sridevi was not just admired, she was bankable. Films could revolve around her. Her presence changed the energy of a project. In certain films, heroes had to adjust to her command rather than the other way around. That kind of authority was not accidental. It was the result of extraordinary talent meeting a rare moment in the industry’s history when audiences, producers and writers briefly allowed a woman to dominate the frame. But Sridevi's career also proves the rarity of that model. She remains the benchmark because few actresses after her, not even stars like Madhuri Dixit, Kajol, Aishwarya Rai, Kareena Kapoor or Deepika Padukone, were consistently given the same kind of female-led commercial vehicles. The industry celebrated her, but did not fully institutionalise her kind of stardom. Four decades later, the industry still hasn’t built the pipeline that would allow her successors to go beyond her. Deepika seemed poised to replicate that model before stepping away from it in recent years. Revealing Discussion That gap is what makes the discussion around Alia and Alpha so revealing. Alia is one of the few contemporary actresses who has repeatedly crossed the boundary between being an actor and star. She has done the intimate, performance-driven roles, such as Highway (2014), Udta Punjab (2016), Raazi (2018) and Gully Boy (2019) that win critical acclaim , and she has also participated in larger commercial ventures that expand her visibility, such as Brahmāstra: Part One – Shiva (2022), RRR (2022), Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani (2023), Gangubai Kathiawadi (2022) and Badrinath Ki Dulhania (2017). In theory, she should be exactly the kind of actress around whom a new era of female-led theatrical storytelling can be built. In practice, the industry still seems unsure how to market that proposition with confidence. Part of the issue lies in the way Hindi cinema packages women-led films. Too often, these projects are framed as either ‘serious’ or ‘special’. They are presented as prestige dramas, social messages or exceptions to the norm. The masculine model of stardom, by contrast, is built on repetition, scale, and genre certainty. Male stars are supported by action, comedy, spectacle and franchise logic. Female stars are still too often limited to emotionally dense dramas or films that must prove their worth before the audience even enters the hall. Genre gatekeeping also runs deeper than casting. Action franchises, cop universes and multi-part spectacles are almost never designed around a woman from the outset. Actresses get inducted into these worlds as guests in someone else's franchise, not as the anchor of their own. Without a female-led equivalent of a returning franchise, there is no mechanism for an actress's stardom to compound the way a male star's does, film after film. Feminist Undertones That’s not to say there were no feminist undertones in Lokah, but they felt organic. Naslen, the film’s hero and other male actors, including superheroes played by superstars Dulquer Salmaan and Tovino Thomas, seemed to be having a blast playing second fiddle to the heroine. There is also a quieter, upstream problem in the scarcity of women writing and directing stories in Bollywood, barring Farah Khan, Meghna Gulzar and Zoya Akhtar. Lokah, in fact, had actress Santhy Balachandran playing an important role in giving a woman’s perspective to the narrative as the additional screenplay writer and dramaturgist. It is difficult to imagine something similar happening in the male-dominated Hindi film industry, unless the filmmaker happens to be the very conscientious Farhan Akhtar or an Aamir Khan.

Bharat’s Jetson Cities, Light-years Away from Nature

Updated: Jan 20, 2025

Jetson Cities

One thing is for certain: our Bharatiya cities, the big metros and towns, are fast becoming like the ‘Jetson’ cities. For those who are unaware of Jetson cities, these were first shown in the famous Hanna-Barbera cartoon series, the Jetsons, set in the 2100s, where cities are air-tight glass globules tethered to the ground, and the only way to get in and out are the flying cars. Yes, we, the city-dwellers, aspire to tall skyscrapers, spectacular bridges, world-class tunnels, swooshing metro trains, and we are building Jetson-like flying cars. A few HD drone images here and there, during the day and at night and around twilight, and we are content that our cities have become the cynosure of our own eyes. We want our cities to be brightly lit, with neon signs, laser shows, and large billboard videos. We would then fulfil our inner desire to have a city on par with Tokyo, New York, and Shanghai.


Our buildings, designed for the next 30 years, are well air-conditioned, shielding occupants from a soupy dust bowl of brown smog, soot, particulate matter, and fine dust. It is said that most new home buyers invest at least 10% of their property’s price in enhancing the interiors, soundproofing their homes, using air purifiers and conditioners, and disconnecting from the outside world for that much-needed solace. Indeed, large builders promote their projects as close to nature amidst tranquillity. However, there is always another builder eager to get one plot of land ahead of yours to enjoy that nature. To be truthful, access to nature now comes at a premium - even the skies.


Let’s assume the working-age population is occupied in the leisure of our Jetson cities, but how many of their young school and college-going kids have seen the long arm of the Milky Way galaxy from their cities? How many have witnessed a comet zooming by? How many know about endemic plants with medicinal properties? When did they last see a chirping house sparrow? How many know that the nearest sewage drain was once a freshwater stream? When did they last find their suburban beach prettier than the resort beaches of Maldives?


The intent to ask these questions is simple: Bharat is currently at a crossroads. Pundits are enthusiastic about a cultural renaissance on the horizon. Corporate leaders, on the other hand, want us to invest hundreds of hours each week to pay our dues to the growth of the national GDP. But no one asks, if a cultural renaissance is to occur, who will generate the new understandings and insights of nature that arise typically during such a period of human advancement? No one is actually asking, for whom are we building the nation if there is no time for children, or worse, if there is no time or intent to have children. In the process of growing rich, we are about to become old. By 2047, 65% of the population under the age of 35 will grow beyond 35 all at once, and we’d have an enormous population in advanced ages with a tapering young population, a graph that looks like a banyan tree. Unfortunately, that young population will have no access to the knowledge that nature has to offer, neither flora and fauna nor the seas and the skies.


Our urbane lifestyles need tempering. Such tempering can occur only if we ensure the revival of natural sciences during this period of cultural renaissance and nation-building. Let’s not rely solely on the educational system. With Indian Knowledge Systems, constructive changes are underway, and academic curricula are poised to improve for the greater good. However, true knowledge arises only when parents and grandparents introduce children to nature. Genuine understanding also develops from extracurricular activities in schools and colleges that encourage kids to observe, journal, and act on their discoveries. On the positive side, our country’s forest cover is increasing, as announced by the government. However, efforts must be made to ensure that every school or college, whether in Mumbai, Vijayawada, Gorakhpur, Ratlam, Thrissur, Bhuj, Faridabad, Imphal, Manali, Cuttack, or Ajmer, guarantees that their students are well aware of the endemic nature of their surroundings and are regularly observing and recording data on whatever interests them. Let kids observe rivers and understand the volume of water that flows through them. Let children learn about the decline of house sparrows in their cities and what steps should be taken to revive their populations. Let them study the bees in their nearby groves and recognise the vital role these bees play in nature.


Of course, you need to learn AI, robotics, fintech, the next generation of management courses, and all the engineering bells and whistles. However, we must not leave the next generation with inadequate comprehension and skills for understanding nature. We must ensure that nature conservation is not merely lip service or a tool for politicised green activists. This can be achieved if natural sciences are given the respect they deserve at the school, undergraduate, and postgraduate levels.


Indeed, I am a plebeian, and you might feel that you, too, could write a rant about the plight of our urban lives. Urban development and municipal experts have many solutions to propose, but few are willing to take action. However, that is not the issue I wish to highlight. I aim to illustrate a much larger concern—that Indian city dwellers are disoriented and devoid of nature, lacking a guiding star to lead them toward a brighter future. Our cities of Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, and Chennai have taken on characteristics reminiscent of Jetson-like cities. We show little regard for the Nagar Devata, Gram Devata, and Van Devata, who have protected the cities, towns, and forests that once surrounded us. We wait for formal governance to clean up our beaches, rivers, and ponds without making sufficient efforts to prevent pollution in the first place.


For those striving to grasp spirituality not through the Puranas and Aadi-Granth but through new-age podcasts, I recommend watching Vinay Varanasi’s podcast on Bhagavan Vishnu’s Dashavatar. If it is clear that Bhagavan Vishnu does not tolerate disregard for Bhudevi or Mother Earth, why do we, the devotees of Bhagavan Vishnu, continue to pollute our Mother Earth—her air, soil, waters, and sounds? Or have we taken Elon Musk's words at face value, assuming our next destination is Mars after destroying Earth, only to ruin Mars later, even worse than its current clinically sterile state? If that is the case, then bear with me when I say this: these Jetson cities stand on precarious pillars of ego, victimhood, apathy, and consumerism, waiting to be toppled either by the true harbingers of order or by false prophets. Therefore, teach the next generations to observe nature, appreciate our coexistence with other species, and venerate the forces of nature. By doing so, we humans will be good, at least for the next thousand years. If not, prepare for a bleak future by the end of this century.


(The author is a Space and Emerging Technology Fellow at the Centre for Security, Strategy and Technology, Observer Research Foundation, Mumbai. Views personal.)

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