Manisha Koirala: Actresses Were Used As Both Props And Protagonists Earlier And It's The Same Even Today

Actress Manisha Koirala has been in showbiz for more than three decades now. The diva made her Bollywood debut with Subhash Ghai's 'Saudagar' in 1991 and since then she never looked back. Manisha proved her mettle in acting in films like 'Khamoshi', '1942: A Love Story', 'Bombay', and 'Dil Se' among others. 

In a recent interview with Outlook, Manisha Koirala opened up about her journey in the industry as she said that it has been a 'roller coaster ride'. Recalling more about her initial days, Koirala added, "I was a very naive young girl just after my 12th grade, I didn't even go to college. I did a Nepali film and an ad film and then I got into movies in Bollywood. So, absolutely zero experience on life, very very naive, was scared of this big bad world of cinema (she laughs). But it has been a huge learning process. Life has been a huge learning process but what I take with me is the love, affection, and how I was embraced by the people and loved when I did good films and savor that. It has been a fruitful roller coaster ride I would say".

Earlier in the 80s and 90s, actresses were just used as props. When asked if the portrayal of women characters in films has changed nowadays, Manisha said, "Absolutely not. I think earlier also and today also. It all depends from project to project. There are projects where actresses or the leading ladies are only the props and there are projects where they are the protagonists. So, we had it back then and we have it now. It's the same. We had actresses like Smita Patil, Shabana Azmi ji and Deepti Naval and those days great films like 'Mandi', 'Saaransh', 'Masoom' and so many films where females had dominated the screen and those days also females who were just singing and dancing. Like that, we had this then also and have it now too" 

The actress also further said that she always had interesting roles to play in most of her films. "I played very interesting characters whether it's 'Bombay', 'Dil Se', 'Khamoshi', 'Akele Hum Akele Tum', 'Agni Sakshi', '1942: A Love Story', 'Mann'. In a couple of them, I have had very important and interesting characters or roles to play. So, I have had that opportunity and today also I feel I play character roles sometimes and sometimes I play protagonist which is great," she said. 

The 'Maska' actress also said that if the character role is very interesting, she would love to play that because she feels "at the end of the day one can really explore the acting skills in such characters".