Tanuja Chandra says she 'needed male star' to get money for 'Dushman' despite Kajol

After helming women-led films like 'Dushman', 'Sangharsh', 'Qarib Qarib Singlle' and more, Tanuja Chandra will now direct a documentary-series with 'Wedding.Con'. Speaking exclusively with IndiaToday.in, Tanuja revealed that for the iconic Dushman, the director couldn't secure funding at first without getting a male star to be a part of the project.

Wedding.Con is an upcoming Prime Video project that throws spotlight on how men frequently betray and deceive women on the pretext of marriage. The heartbreaking series has Tanuja conversing with five victims, who went through emotional and financial turmoil, while they interacted with prospective life partners.

TANUJA RECALLS HOW SHE WAS ASKED TO ROPE IN A MALE STAR TO GET FUNDING FOR DUSHMAN

Given that Tanuja has worked on films with women subjects, it didn't seem unusual when BBC Studios reached out to her to work on the series. Commenting on the same, Tanuja told IndiaToday.in, "I want to completely dive into it. I have a love affair with the female genre and it is only becoming stronger. I was so happy when this project came my way. It found me."

Tanuja then went on to speak about women-led projects and recalled how, for Dushman, she was asked to rope in a male star to get funding for the film, despite Kajol's presence: "That has been one big change there. I remember when I was making Dushman, even with Kajol, I had to get a male star to get money. That was the prerogative."

In recent times, we have seen actors like Sushmita Sen, Kajol, and even Pooja Bhatt getting back to work. Calling it a moment of 'personal joy', the filmmaker said that while she is thrilled, the numbers of female-led projects continue to be below average. "I have been telling this for 25 years now. Until we have at least a 50 per cent share of female protagonists, you cannot say it's good enough. That's not an equal playing field. It took us so long to reach here, where today, we have 30-40 female directors, and about the same number of female-led projects. But we are still far behind, and I don't know why. Is it because the industry is resistant?" the filmmaker wondered.

'OTT HAS HELPED THE WOMEN CAUSE'

The filmmaker added that the digital platform has also played a role in female actors getting the kind of work they deserve. She mentioned how OTT encouraged people to fund films starring women, which was a far-fetched dream in the past.

We also asked Tanuja if she ever felt the urge to redo any of her films after years. With a broad smile, she replied, "Too many of them, lots of things. As we grow, we adapt and evolve and I have been doing that for years. This year was 25 years since my first film Dushman came out, and I plan to be doing this for a while. There are a lot of things I would do differently in terms of storytelling, but all that's useful knowledge that one keeps gaining. It only contributes to your career and never gets wasted."

Tanuja Chandra-helmed 'Wedding.Con' will premiere on Prime Video on December 29.