Jacqueline Fernandez made her stunning appearance at the 78th Cannes Film Festival. She was celebrated as one of the seven honorees at the Women in Cinema event, hosted by the Red Sea Film Foundation at Cannes. Seizing the opportunity, she addressed the prevalent stereotypes about women in Bollywood at the festival.
During a panel discussion, the actress noted how the Bollywood industry has undergone a major amount of stereotypical shifts for female actors. Not only did the old notions once dominated over women actors’ careers, but it also caused a barrier to grow further. However, Fernandez shed light on how female actors of all ages aRe now being offered remarkable roles.
“In India and Bollywood, there has been an amazing change where it's not anymore about fitting a cookie-cutter stereotype of what it means to be an actress and how you could fit in a role. And these are the roles that you can be given if you are a certain age or if you look a certain way. That's changed a lot in India,” Fernandez said.
She also emphasised the women who are working significantly hard in the industry to get their opportunity. The focus is on considering the efforts rather than on the relevance of age. “Women of all age groups are getting fantastic roles. They are getting fantastic female lead protagonist roles. Stories are being made for them. So now, the variety has all of a sudden exploded. Everyone is getting an opportunity. There is no shelf life. There are, of course, a lot of us who go through that; it is how we stay relevant all the time as you get older? But there are a lot of people and a lot of amazing actresses out there who are breaking that and who are working towards that”, Fernandez added.
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She expressed her joy in seeing the freedom of women artists to work in the industry in tune with their passion. Not only are they paving the way ahead but they are able to share their stories irrespective of any other stereotype that once limited their dream.
