In maths, we were taught that five stars > one star.
But that gyaan goes for a toss in Bollywood, where five stars mean zilch compared to one star - yes, the male superstar.
He is the crowd-puller; the masses ka hero. But what about the heroine? Ah... never mind
Because it’s the truth, “the brutal truth”, if I were to borrow female actor Taapsee Pannu’s words, that disproportionate space will be given to Akshay Kumar in the poster of the movie, Mission Mangal, even though it has five women.
Whether it was humility, or cynicism, I don’t know. But Taapsee did further explain her point by contrasting the box office performance of the five talented female actors, to her one male co-star.
Well honey, that’s just the way it is in B-town. Where five stars will always be lesser than one (male) star.
Because even though Akshay Kumar, the super ‘star’ of the movie has reassured us that "this film belongs to these ladies and it will always belong to them,” the fact that the trailer and the movie poster are dominated by him, shows that his assertion couldn’t be further from the truth.
Leave aside the fact that the successful expedition was credited equally to ISRO’s women.
But being the hopeful lot that we are, we still wish that stories give not just the talented female actors in the movie - Vidya Balan, Sonakshi Sinha, Kirti Kulhari, Nithya Menon and Taapse - but also other women in entertainment a successful launch pad!
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