If I had a rupee for every time a Bollywood producer looked at one of my scripts, stroked his chin thoughtfully, and said, "The only problem with your film is, it has got a female lead", I'd have enough money to produce the damn thing myself. And probably have a female-led sequel already in the works.

It's a refrain as familiar as a background score in a '90s romantic scene. Most of my spec scripts—passion projects written on stolen time and fueled by irrational hope—feature a woman at the helm. I can't help it. I find the typical male protagonist, with his fragile ego wrapped in oversized ambition, about as exciting as watching paint dry on a superstar's vanity van.

Women, however? Ask any screenwriter who has actually dared to listen to the women in their lives, and they'll talk of ent

See Full Page