Ever since the first poster of Jagan Shakti’s Mission Mangal came out, there have been talks about how Akshay Kumar has been the most prominent face on it when the film and the real life mission it’s based on, is female lead. Starring Vidya Balan, Taapsee Pannu, Sonakshi Sinha, Nithya Menen and Kirti Kulhari in leading roles, the film also stars Akshay Kumar and Sharman Joshi.
Talking about the disparity on the poster, Taapsee Pannu said, “It is great people notice that, also then those same people can do something about the collections of a female driven film. Because Akshay Kumar will get the audience in the theatre, that is the hard fact. All of us are great work in our own capacities. But, he will still manage to get a bigger number, at the end of the day. We cannot run away from this reality. Whatever issue happened with the poster, hope people realise it and do something about rather than questioning the makers. The audience can change things by walking into theatres where women are at the forefront. Hopefully, in the future it shouldn’t be about the gender, but whose films get the numbers. Eventually it is a business and about how much money your films can make.”
While we agree with Miss Pannu, we also believe that female lead films can do well as long as there’s content. Deepika Padukone’s Piku, Priyanka Chopra Jonas’ Mary Kom, and even Pannu’s Naam Shabana are examples of female lead films doing well at the box office.
Bombay Balloon 