10 Bollywood Lady Politicians

Bollywood has had its say on politics quite a few times, by making films in the genre.

Many of them have been led by the industry's biggest stars.

And every once in a while, has come a political movie led by a woman.

Kangana Ranaut hopes to have her say with Thalaivi very soon.

Joginder Tuteja looks at how this genre has done in the past.

 

Kangana Ranaut, Thalaivi

Kangana brings the late Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa's life on screen in Thalaivi.

Directed by A L Vijay and written by Vijayendra (Baahubali) Prasad, and starring Arvind Swamy as Jayalalithaa's co-star and political mentor Maruthur Gopala Ramachandran aka MGR, one wonders what lies in store for us.

Thalaivi releases in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu.

 

Katrina Kaif, Raajneeti
Box office collection: Rs 93.66 crore

Prakash Jha's Raajneeti had well-known actors like Nana Patekar, Ajay Devgn, Ranbir Kapoor, Arjun Rampal and Manoj Bajpayee taking centrestage as politicians.

Katrina Kaif had a pivotal role in it too.

Though many wondered if she would pull this off, Katrina did well and held her own.

 

Juhi Chawla, Gulaab Gang
Box office collection: Rs 15 crore

When Madhuri Dixit made her comeback with Gulaab Gang, it was Juhi Chawla -- her rival from the '80s and the '90s -- who was roped in as the villain of the piece.

As a politician, Juhi brought in a kind of menace that we would not associate with her.

 

Kangana Ranaut, Revolver Rani
Box office collection: Rs 10.50 crore

Though Kangana would be seen as a real life politician in Thalaivi, she has played a different kind of politician in Revolver Rani.

A dark comedy of sorts with striking drama, the film did have its moments but did not quite work at the box office.

 

Mallika Sherawat, Dirty Politics
Box office collection: Rs 7 crore

Believe it or not, Mallika Sherawat has played a woman finding herself in the corridors of politics in Dirty Politics.

With references to some real life stories around a woman who found herself on the wrong side of politics, this K C Bokadia directed film went totally unnoticed.

 

Kirti Kulhari, Indu Sarkar
Box office collection: Rs 5 crore

Madhur Bhandarkar stepped into the political arena again with Indu Sarkar with Kirti Kulhari playing the title role.

As a woman who stammered and yet, fought the world of politics around her in a quest for idealism, Kirti did well in the author-backed role.

Though she is not shown as an active politician in the film, the battle that she fights with the bigwigs is notable.

Raveena Tandon, Satta
Box office collection: Rs 1.50 crore

Madhur Bhandarkar's Satta is among the most authentic films on politics in Bollywood.

Though it did not do well commercially, it was a well made affair with Raveena Tandon playing a politician.

 

Divya Dutta, Irada
Box office collection: Rs 1 crore

Chances are that you may not have heard about Irada.

But give this Arshad Warsi and Naseeruddin film on a bio-chemical scandal a chance and you will not regret it.

What makes the film special is the strong part of a female politician that Divya Dutta played, where you truly despise her foul-mouthed and conniving character.

She earned a National Award for it.

 

Richa Chadha, Madam Chief Minister
Box office collection: Rs 0.50 crore

Richa Chaddha was recently seen as a politician, in fact, a chief minister no less, in Madam Chief Minister.

The film came at the time when theatres were just opening up but thanks to the pandemic, there was no promotion whatsoever.

Richa did well in a part where she had to show her calculating side, in this Subhash Kapoor directorial.

 

Suchitra Sen, Aandhi 
Box office collection: Collections not available

This list would be incomplete without the mention of Gulzar's Aandhi, where Suchitra Sen played a politician.

Vulnerable and yet so strong, she was just the kind of woman that Gulzar wanted to bring on screen in this political drama that made clear references to real life politicians.

Sanjeev Kumar was terrific, as always.