Alia Bhatt Questions Why Indian Cinema 'Caters Just To Men': 'Why Can't We Make Gender-Agnostic Movies?'

Alia Bhatt, who recently returned to the Cannes Film Festival, has questioned why Indian cinema mostly caters to the male audience. She cited the examples of films like Barbie and The Devil Wears Prada and championed for more gender agnostic films in Indian cinema, which are driven by the story and not the male or female hero.

In a chat with The Hollywood Reporter India, Alia mentioned, “When I look at the landscape, I think we’re in a very fascinating time today… If you take a look at the box office, you’ll see the films that have done phenomenally well: Barbie, Wuthering Heights, and The Devil Wears Prada.”

“These are a few; I am sure there are way more, and their main audience, perhaps, was women. Women were showing up, watching these films,

which have now become massive hits,” Alia said. The actress questioned whether, in Bollywood, if most films are made for males, what about the female cinema fans?

Alia mentioned, “But in India, when we talk about box office and numbers, there is a conversation that comes up pretty often, which is 75% of the movie-going audience is male, so we need to cater to the masses. This conversation comes up quite a bit. I wonder if we are catering just to the men, then what happens to the women?”

“I am not saying to alienate the men, but why do we have to alienate anyone? Why do we have to cater to one gender? Why can’t we make movies that are gender-agnostic, where the storytelling takes centre stage? So, whether it stars a man or a woman, that should not matter. It is the storytelling that should matter. I’m just hoping we have more of that,” she added.

Meanwhile, on the professional front, Alia Bhatt will next be seen in Alpha, which is a part of the YRF spy universe, alongside Sharvari and Bobby Deol. She is also set to reunite with Ranbir Kapoor and Vicky Kaushal in Love and War, directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali. Alia Bhatt is reportedly set to join the cast of Tumbbad 2. However, there is no confirmation on this yet.