'Women are flawed too, beautifully so': Parvathy Thiruvothu calls out on-screen female stereotypes ahead of 'I, Nobody' release
National Award-winning actor Parvathy Thiruvothu believes the portrayal of women in Indian cinema has evolved far too slowly. The actor and founding member of the Women in Cinema Collective reflected on how female characters continue to be confined to familiar stereotypes and questioned why women alone are expected to remain "likeable" on screen.
Progress has been slower than expectedSpeaking at the 15th edition of Screen Expresso in Chennai, Parvathy acknowledged that while more women are being included in the industry, meaningful representation still has a long way to go.
"This bread crumbing of progress doesn’t bode well with me. I’d still take this tokenistic approach of hiring women over nothing. We do need our foot in the door to make some changes. But what we’re missing in terms of representation of our characters, be it a man, woman or any person writing them, are all of us seeing ourselves on screen?"
She pointed out that female characters often continue to exist within predefined moulds such as the best friend, mother or love interest, limiting the scope of authentic storytelling.
Beyond the 'lover girl' stereotypeLooking back at her own career, Parvathy admitted she spent several years playing romantic leads before getting opportunities to portray more layered female characters.
"Trust me, I’ve played a lover girl for over a decade before I got the bold feminist roles. The only dramatic lead for that woman in that story is to fall in love. There seems to be nothing else ailing her. There seems to be no worry about her work, family, or health. There seems to be nothing else she’s obsessed with except that man and her love for him."
The actor argued that whenever films attempt to give women ambitions or identities beyond romance, they are often labelled as difficult or undesirable.
"Any time we bring in the career or any other aspect she’s interested in, it’s immediately made into an unlikeable woman, not exactly a desirable woman."
Sharing a personal reflection, she added, "Why do we need to exist in isolation? I’m a mix of all of this. Of course, I’ve been told I’m extremely dislikeable and intimidating. At a particular time in my life, I used to get hurt being told I’m not a good person. Eventually, I realised that maybe I’m being disliked because you seem to have something that’s being challenged by me being myself. This kind of a character is always put into a bracket."
"Women are flawed too"
Parvathy also questioned the industry's double standards when it comes to flawed protagonists, noting that male characters are often celebrated despite their imperfections.
"We can actually hate them, but still be rooting for them. Because that somehow is art, that’s a hero - 'We know men who are flawed.' Women are flawed too, beautifully so. But the moment we say that, she’s a negative character, has a grey shade, and is villainized. This cliche or generalisation of us is very belittling, to say the least."
Women are not here only to entertainThe actor further dismissed the notion that women in films exist merely to entertain male audiences or be universally admired.
"We know in our own circles that not all women are best friends. I know women who I don’t like, and those who don’t like me. But that’s not because we’re women. That’s because we’ve a certain kind of personality and a value system that we don’t agree with each other."
She added, "The assumption is people don’t want to watch these kind of women in cinema . But the truth is we’re not here to entertain, we’re living our full lives in their entirety. We get to choose whether we entertain you, but making a caricature out of it is still continuing in the biggest of industries."
Why ' Qarib Qarib Singlle ' stood outHighlighting a rare example of balanced storytelling, Parvathy cited her Hindi debut, 'Qarib Qarib Singlle', opposite the late Irrfan Khan.
Progress has been slower than expectedSpeaking at the 15th edition of Screen Expresso in Chennai, Parvathy acknowledged that while more women are being included in the industry, meaningful representation still has a long way to go.
"This bread crumbing of progress doesn’t bode well with me. I’d still take this tokenistic approach of hiring women over nothing. We do need our foot in the door to make some changes. But what we’re missing in terms of representation of our characters, be it a man, woman or any person writing them, are all of us seeing ourselves on screen?"
She pointed out that female characters often continue to exist within predefined moulds such as the best friend, mother or love interest, limiting the scope of authentic storytelling.
Beyond the 'lover girl' stereotypeLooking back at her own career, Parvathy admitted she spent several years playing romantic leads before getting opportunities to portray more layered female characters.
"Trust me, I’ve played a lover girl for over a decade before I got the bold feminist roles. The only dramatic lead for that woman in that story is to fall in love. There seems to be nothing else ailing her. There seems to be no worry about her work, family, or health. There seems to be nothing else she’s obsessed with except that man and her love for him."
The actor argued that whenever films attempt to give women ambitions or identities beyond romance, they are often labelled as difficult or undesirable.
"Any time we bring in the career or any other aspect she’s interested in, it’s immediately made into an unlikeable woman, not exactly a desirable woman."
Sharing a personal reflection, she added, "Why do we need to exist in isolation? I’m a mix of all of this. Of course, I’ve been told I’m extremely dislikeable and intimidating. At a particular time in my life, I used to get hurt being told I’m not a good person. Eventually, I realised that maybe I’m being disliked because you seem to have something that’s being challenged by me being myself. This kind of a character is always put into a bracket."
"Women are flawed too"
Parvathy also questioned the industry's double standards when it comes to flawed protagonists, noting that male characters are often celebrated despite their imperfections.
"We can actually hate them, but still be rooting for them. Because that somehow is art, that’s a hero - 'We know men who are flawed.' Women are flawed too, beautifully so. But the moment we say that, she’s a negative character, has a grey shade, and is villainized. This cliche or generalisation of us is very belittling, to say the least."
Women are not here only to entertainThe actor further dismissed the notion that women in films exist merely to entertain male audiences or be universally admired.
"We know in our own circles that not all women are best friends. I know women who I don’t like, and those who don’t like me. But that’s not because we’re women. That’s because we’ve a certain kind of personality and a value system that we don’t agree with each other."
She added, "The assumption is people don’t want to watch these kind of women in cinema . But the truth is we’re not here to entertain, we’re living our full lives in their entirety. We get to choose whether we entertain you, but making a caricature out of it is still continuing in the biggest of industries."
Why ' Qarib Qarib Singlle ' stood outHighlighting a rare example of balanced storytelling, Parvathy cited her Hindi debut, 'Qarib Qarib Singlle', opposite the late Irrfan Khan.
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