The fact is that it’s a male dominated society that we live in and the Telugu film industry is not an exception. Not only in number, but also in the chosen concepts, men dominate women. We are so used to watching male centric films repeatedly. Now and then, we get to watch films like Arundhati, but it happens once in a blue moon. Heroines are mainly there to complement the hero’s charm. And if a film becomes a hit, all praises to the hero, which is fine, but if it fails, people tag the heroine as iron leg.
It happened to actress Ramya Krishna then, and later to Shruthi Hassan till Gabbar Singh got released. With a series of flops like Anaganaga O Dheerudu, 7th Sense, Oh My Friend, Shruthi Hassan was called an Iron Leg. It is typical of a few industry people who have nothing better to do than tagging actresses with such names. Also, one might get surprised to know who else got cornered with the same tag. It’s Vidya Balan, who is now the dashing diva of Bollywood. She was once called the iron leg in her own mother tongue-speaking industry, Mollywood. In the beginning of her career, she acted in a film called Chakram, along with the Mallu super star Mohan Lal. The film got cancelled due to few technical reasons. But it was Vidya Balan who had to take the blame. People in the industry began to blame Vidya Balan, as no other film in Mohan Lal’s career was ever called off midway. The tag of iron leg, took her away from getting any further roles in Mollywood. Having had her share of bitter experiences in her own Mollywood, Vidya didn’t waste much time and flew to Bollywood. What happened to her in B-town is a success story that we all know. The Dirty Picture tells us the whole Kahaani of Vidya Balan’s success.
