‘Bollywood isn’t male-dominated; it’s about who brings in money’: Farah Khan

Filmmaker-choreographer Farah Khan does not agree with the view that Bollywood is a male-dominated industry. She says whoever brings in big money here can become a superstar. Farah revealed her opinion at the launch of Kaveree Bamzai’s book “No Regrets: The Guilt-Free Woman’s Guide To A Good Life”. “It’s about who brings in maximum money,” Farah explained, underlining her opinion that power equations in Bollywood were not gender-specific.

She added: “You have to blame rest of the country for that, because who patronises the movies? It’s not the industry. It’s the country and people who want to go and see the movies. So, whoever brings in the biggest money will be the biggest superstar. The minute women start bringing in the big bucks, they will be the superstars. It’s a business model. I think at some point, women might rule the industry. In last 30 years, a lot has changed.”

Farah Khan started her Bollywood journey as a choreographer for the Aamir Khan-starrer “Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar” (1992), and since then she worked as a dance director in a number of successful films. She made her Bollywood debut as director with “Main Hoon Na” in 2004 , and followed it up with films such as “Om Shanti Om”, “Tees Maar Khan” and “Happy New Year”. A few months back, it was announced that Rohit Shetty will produce a film directed by Farah Khan. Since then, there have been speculations suggesting the project in question is a remake of the Amitabh Bachchan-Hema Malini comedy “Satte Pe Satta”. “It is all speculations,” said Farah, talking about these reports. “Even we are not aware of what we will make. All I can say is I will start working on my next film next year,” she added.

When Farah Khan started directing films, she was tagged the Manmohan Desai of today’s generation for her out-and-out, larger-than-life brand of entertainment. Asked how she looks at that tag, Farah said: “It all started during ‘Main Hoon Na’. There was one headline about it and it suddenly caught on. Of course, I loved Manmohan Desai movies but he wasn’t my favorite director. I really enjoyed the movies of Nasir Hussain and Vijay Anand. In fact, at one point, I thought of making Desai’s biopic because he had quite a fascinating life. We grew up in the seventies, so we enjoyed his brand of filminess, which is hard to come by now.”

Farah Khan married Shirish Kunder, editor of her film “Main Hoon Na”, in December 2004. She gave birth to triplets in 2008 — a son and two daughters. Asked what she thinks about the star kid culture, and the paparazzi frenzy around star kids, she replied: “I think it is not their choice, and who is to be blamed? Everyone wants to see them, which is why their photographs are clicked. If nobody wanted to see them, they would not be stalked at schools and play-dates. Everyone wants to know what they are doing. It is sad, but you need to take kids out. I go to supermarkets with my kids for grocery and we go to Versova Beach. Now, my kids know who am I when people take photos of us. When we are abroad, they (kids) tell me, ‘mamma run, Indians are coming!’ (laughs). I think you have to treat them as normal as possible.” (IANS)

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