Great time to be a woman in Indian cinema: Sonakshi

Sonakshi Sinha says that it is a great time to be a woman in Indian cinema as great characters are being written for them while audience too accepted them. “I think it is about time that they did and there are some great characters being written out for women in today’s films and I am really happy for that.” Sonakshi said at the launch of her song ‘Raj Raj Ke’ from her film Akira, which she has sung herself.

“And the audiences have become so much more accepting of what they are watching on screen, so I think it is a great time to be a woman in Indian cinema,” Sonakshi added further.

Recently, actors like Sonam Kapoor in Neerja, Priyanka Chopra in Mary Kom, Kangana Ranaut in Queen, Anushka Sharma in NH 10, Vidya Balan in Kahaani have carried films on their shoulders, while Alia Bhatt in Highway, Deepika Padukone in Piku among others have had meaty characters.

When asked why she decided to do a women-centric film, Sonakshi said, “When I do other films, you all say why you do not do women-centric films, when I do women-centric, you say why women-centric film. So now what to do?”

Sonakshi will be seen in some intense action sequences in Akira. About her preparation for it, she said, “It’s actually been the most challenging, most physically demanding film I have ever been a part of. I had to work very hard, it was very gruelling, very hard training I had to go through in mixed martial arts. I had to work on myself so that it looks convincing. 

Sonakshi who will be singing live for the first time at a college said she is elated to see her dream of singing turn into reality. Sonakshi, who has sung a track titled ‘Raj raj ke’ for Akira, will perform live on Wednesday. 

“Ever since I was a kid, I had one big dream that someday I will sing live and have people dancing to my tunes... Slowly that dream is coming true,” Sonakshi said in a statement. The actor, who made her debut into singing with a new single titled ‘Ishqoholic’ last year, added that she feels “lucky to have the opportunity to sing such a beautiful and soul-touching song like ‘Raj raj ke’”.  Sonakshi hopes she wins everyone’s hearts with her live gig. 

She said, “When I heard the song a few days before the shoot and while we were shooting the video, I couldn’t stop singing it. From that, it led to me recording for it and from that to actually performing it live, is like a big dream come true. “I’m very excited. I really hope everyone likes it.”

Presented by Fox Star Studios, Akira is directed by A.R. Murugadoss, who had previously directed Sonakshi in the film Holiday. Akira sees Sonakshi’s character coming to Mumbai from Jodhpur, where she gets into a tiff with the goons of the college she enrolls in. The story is about her fight to come out of a case in which the goons and corrupt police officials play crucial roles. The film, also starring Anurag Kashyap and Konkona Sen Sharma, will release on September 2.