Big-budget films led by women are still a rare sight in Indian cinema, largely due to outdated beliefs about box office pull. Malavika Mohanan opens up on why producers hesitate to take that risk, despite proven success stories.
Image Source: Instagram
In an industry that loves to shout “change is coming,” some habits clearly refuse to pack their bags and leave. And Malavika Mohanan is not staying quiet about it.
Let’s be honest. In Indian cinema, big money still likes to sit comfortably behind a male superstar. Lavish sets, massive promotions, and huge budgets usually come with one condition: a hero at the centre. Female-led films? Those are often told to “keep expectations realistic.”
Advertisement
Malavika Mohanan recently spilled this long-whispered truth in an interview with News18. And she didn’t sugarcoat it.
Advertisement
According to Malavika, many producers and even actors still believe that films led by women simply don’t pull audiences to theatres in large numbers. Because of this belief, they hesitate to invest serious money in such projects.
Malavika explained how the industry logic works. When a project has a woman in the lead, budgets suddenly shrink. The reason? A common assumption that these films won’t recover big investments.
She pointed out that this mindset is exactly why only a handful of high-budget films with female leads ever get made. Most big-budget projects are automatically designed around male protagonists, while women are pushed into “safe” or smaller-scale stories.
In simple words: talent isn’t the problem. Mindset is.
To make her point clear, Malavika brought up a perfect example: ‘Lokah’. By Malayalam cinema standards, ‘Lokah’ was a big-budget film. And guess what? It was led by Kalyani Priyadarshan, a young female actor.
The film existed because its producers actually took a risk. They trusted the story. They trusted Kalyani. And that trust paid off.
View this post on Instagram
Produced by Dulquer Salmaan under his banner Wayfarer Films and directed by Dominic Arun, ‘Lokah’ turned out to be a massive success.
‘Lokah’ is a Malayalam-language superhero film that places a woman right at its centre. Kalyani Priyadarshan plays Chandra, a mysterious woman summoned to Bengaluru to fight evil. Her journey becomes complicated when she meets Sunny and his group of friends and crosses paths with a corrupt inspector named Nachiyappa.
The film also features Naslen, Sandy, Chandu Salim Kumar, Arun Kurian in supporting roles.
Audiences loved it. Critics praised it. And the box office numbers spoke louder than any old belief.
‘Lokah’ went on to become an all-time blockbuster, earning ₹303.86 crore worldwide and ₹157.02 crore in India alone. So much for “female-led films don’t work,” right?
Malavika’s frustration is simple and valid. Success stories exist. Proof exists. But still, very few producers are willing to place women at the centre of high-budget films.
The problem, she says, is not ability. It’s hesitation. It’s the lack of courage to break a formula that feels “safe.”
Until that changes, female-led big-budget films will remain the exception, not the rule. Malavika Mohanan isn’t asking for favours. She’s asking for fairness and faith.
On the work front, Malavika was last seen in ‘The Raja Saab’, a fantasy horror comedy starring Prabhas. Despite star power, the film failed to impress audiences and is struggling at box office. However, it has still managed to cross ₹200 crore worldwide.
Up next, Malavika will appear in ‘Sardar 2’. It is a Tamil spy action thriller. The film stars Karthi and Rajisha Vijayan in lead roles, with SJ Suryah and Ashika Ranganath playing key supporting parts. The release date is still under wraps.
Advertisement
