Women-oriented films may have struck gold at the box office of late but actress Divya Dutta says the masses are still concerned about knowing the "hero" of a film.
"We are a male dominated society where we want to know 'who is the hero of the film?'. I am talking about the masses who first ask that and then, 'oh, so who's the heroine?'. The heroine is always the plus. But a hero defines everyone's characters or roles in the industry.''
The "Badlapur" actress, who has carved a niche for herself by working in a variety of films like "Bhaag Milkha Bhaag", "Veer-Zaara" and "Special 26", feels there is a risk of getting "stereotyped" by the audience, depending on the role an actress is playing with a male star.
"You play a heroine once with a top hero, or even if you don't act for a long time, or change roles, you will always be the heroine because you worked with a star. You were opposite him," she said.
The 38 year old actress, however, says even though there is a classification of male and female oriented films in the audience's minds, if they are served with a good movie, they will lap it up irrespectively. "There is a major section of the audience who consider films male and female oriented. Having said that, if you give them a nice commercial film with a heroine oriented subject, then will enjoy that too. It's not like there is 'phase' now."
The actress says she does not have a soft-spot for a particular genre. "Films are offered to you by dozen, everyday. What you choose out of those, is all heart and intrutive. If I feel I am going to enjoy it, then great. I've left the biggest of films because something inside didn't feel right. Genres don't matter to me at all," she said.