Bollywood actress Raveena Tandon, who recently starred in Akshay Kumar-led comedy-drama Welcome to the Jungle, said that the roles of actresses in Bollywood comedies have gradually ‘shrunk.’
In a recent interview with news agency PTI, the 53-year-old actress spoke candidly about her latest film and reflected on Bollywood comedies of the 90s — a genre she believes is difficult to recreate in today’s era, which is heavily driven by social media discourse.
“Making people laugh without someone getting offended is probably the ultimate tightrope walk today; it is tough... In the 90s, there was an uninhibited, innocent, and totally unapologetic madness to our films. Chi Chi (Govinda) and I would react purely on instinct. We weren’t overthinking how a joke would look on a 15-second internet clip or if a line would trigger a social media debate,” she told PTI.
She added, “That raw, purely character-driven, loud-and-proud humour of the 90s is rare now because filmmakers are constantly second-guessing themselves. We’ve become a bit too cautious, and comedy desperately needs freedom to breathe.”
She also spoke about the diminishing roles of actresses in present-day Bollywood comedies, crediting the late Sridevi and Juhi Chawla for redefining the space for female performers in the genre.
Tandon cited Sridevi’s performance in the song Mr India and Chaal Baaz.
“The space has changed, and frankly, we’ve lost some of that organic playground we had in the 90s. Today, comedy films have become highly structured and heavily plot-driven, or they are huge ensembles,” she said.
She added, “In the process, the heroine's comic tracks have shrunk. Today’s girls are incredibly sharp, polished, and have fantastic timing, but the scripts often confine them to being glamorous catalyst characters rather than full-fledged comedic dynamos. We need writers to intentionally create flawed, chaotic, and downright hilarious female protagonists without worrying about making them look perfect or politically correct all the time.”
Directed by Ahmed Khan, Welcome to the Jungle features an ensemble cast including Suniel Shetty, Arshad Warsi, Lara Dutta, Jacqueline Fernandez, Disha Patani, Paresh Rawal, Johnny Lever, Rajpal Yadav, Tusshar Kapoor and Shreyas Talpade.
