Thursday, December 06, 2007

POLL: Female Directors

I was in the middle of reminiscing about the Bollywood-related things I experienced during my first trip to India (you can read about the non-Bollywood related things here, here and here) – but I’ve decided to interrupt programming to bring you the latest poll on this blog… the last two polls were all about two of Bollywood’s male icons (Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan) who have ruled Hindi commercial cinema since the 1970s. I promised that the next poll would be female-oriented, and here it is…

I have a great deal of admiration for the female film-makers that have taken on the mantle of director and made their mark in Indian cinema. Farah Khan’s ‘Om Shanti Om’ is still making big money at the box office, and several other female film-makers have also been very successful at their craft.

The question for this poll is: which of the 12 listed female directors is your personal favourite? (I have given some examples of their work as well, as I realise some may be more familiar with the films than their directors). Your answer may be based on the quality of the films they’ve made, the way their films have affected you, their commitment to film-making, the bold subjects their films have addressed, their personal philosophies, their life stories – really, your choice may be based on whatsoever criteria you consider important at the moment.

PLEASE vote – this poll has got me much more excited than the last two – and I am so eager to see who comes out on top. Have fun voting – I know I will have fun tracking the votes; and I am REALLY looking forward to doing the results post at the end of the poll… because I have a lot to say about each of these ladies.

As usual, please do leave your comments on the subjects of the poll… and if I’ve omitted any of your favourite female directors of Indian origin, please let me know…

… will be back with the rest of my reminiscences soon…

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

My favorite is sai paranjpae for giving us those classics.
BTW meghna gluzar directed one great piece (pornmasi )in Dus Kahaniyaa ..

Alan said...

I'll have to go with Farah on this one. She's the one I'm most familiar with and I tend to favor the masala type films.

I did enjoy the flims by Gurinder Chadha that you listed in the poll.

Daddy's Girl said...

@nitin: thanks for the info on 'Pornmasi'. I really like Meghna's work and will definitely check it out.

@alan: the funny thing for me is that I honestly can't say I've loved any of Gurinder's films, but I really like her a lot as a director and a film 'visionary'. I love her passion and her uniqueness... but more on that later. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.