"We lack budgets.... it's not that we don't have actresses": Rohit Shetty on why Bollywood does not make action movies with female leads more often

Rohit Shetty. Pic/Yogen Shah

Gone are the days when we used to see only male actors dominated action-packed stunts in films. Over the years, actresses like Priyanka Chopra, Deepika Padukone, Nayanthara, Kriti Sanon and Katrina Kaif have showcased their action prowess in films like 'Don,' 'Pathan,' 'Jawan,' 'Ganapath,' and 'Tiger 3.'

However, we never paid heed to why there are fewer action heroines and more action heroes in the industry. In an interview with ANI, Rohit, who has introduced Shilpa Shetty as a female cop in his cop based OTT show 'Indian Police Force,' talked about why Bollywood does not make action movies with female leads more often. Notably, Rohit is also introducing Deepika as a cop in 'Singham Again.'

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He said, "You know why Shilpa and Deepika are doing actions in films now because now we have those budget and scale. I would say, we lack budgets. It's not that we don't have that kind of actresses who cannot pull off action, there are many girls in our industry who can do kicka'' action like any action hero if we train them but then I feel that the film needs to be of that scale of a film which you are making with your male star. It should not be like that if it's female oriented script then the budget would not be that much.

He continued, "If you see the films which we are talking about abroad of that scale it's because of their market. The business is such now it has started happening here because we have those kind of budget and there's an audience for that, there was an audience earlier also but now the scale has gone up even if it's heroine action film people would come and see if it's done right. I feel that's more important."

Rohit Shetty also revealed the biggest struggles filmmakers face. Acknowledging the challenges faced by filmmakers, Rohit revealed that the biggest struggle lies in meeting audience expectations accustomed to high production scale.

He emphasized the financial constraints, stating that even with a business of Rs 700 crores, the actual share for producers comes down to around Rs 275 to 300 crores after factoring in taxes and other expenses.

The 'Golmaal' director stated, "That's the biggest struggle we are going through now because audience is use to that scale and we don't have that kind of budgets. How much will we spend, business cannot be more than Rs 500 crores, be maximum Rs 700 crore, but it is very rare. When you say Rs 700 crores it's not Rs 700 crores, it's half of that because it's taxes and everything. It actually comes to 300 crores. If you have a business of Rs 700 crore then business is around Rs 275 crore or Rs 300 crores which is the share of the producers...so we don't have that budget... it is not true that we don't have that kind of technicians or that kind of actors who can pull of stunts or we don't have actresses who can do that kind of stunts, we have everything."

He added "We only lack budgets. Even if you see South industry, they have also taken big risks and hats off to them like 'KGF' and 'Kantara.' They have taken that risk to make such big films and I know what struggle they must have gone through while making those films with tight budgets and hats off to them. They made those films with that conviction, spent so much money for a small market and see it is all over."

Rohit Shetty's 'Singham Again' is all set to release on the occasion of Independence Day 2024.

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