Here is more proof of the gender bias that prevails in the Telugu film industry.
The feminist Bollywood drama Pink which clearly had author-backed roles for the female actors with even Amitabh Bachchan taking a backseat has now been converted in a Pawan Kalyan vehicle in Telugu.
While the original film Pink in Hindi was all about Taapsee Pannu and her female co-stars, the focus in the Telugu remake has shifted to Pawan Kalyan who plays the character of the lawyer played by Amitabh Bachchan in the original Hindi version.
In case we forget who is the star in Telugu, the remake is titled Vakeel Saab (which was the title of an old Raj Kapoor film in Hindi).
A source close to the development informs, “From the beginning, it was clear that this was going to be Pawan Kalyan’s show. The plot’s main focus has been shifted from the heroine who battles her rapists with the help of an ageing bi-polar lawyer, to the lawyer.”
Sources say Pawan has ensured enough footage for himself and also a couple of songs and two major action scenes that were not there in the original. But in the Tamil version of Pink, entitled Nerkonda Paarvai, Ajith had played the lawyer and was pretty much the central character of the conflict, fights and all.
A source very close to the original Hindi version of the story feels by shifting the focus away from the girls, the remake loses the essence of the theme. “The film is about the girls and their brave fight against goondaism. The lawyer’s character is a catalyst, not a primary protagonist. If Mr Bachchan could agree to let Taapsee and her co-stars take centre stage Pawan Kalyan could also have avoided re-naming the film after his character and shifting the focus from the ladies to himself.”