The one trend that emerged in Hindi cinema during 2004, was the return of the Jai-Veeru prototypes from "Sholay"- male bonding scored big-time at the box office.

Be it Amitabh Bachchan- Om Puri in "Dev", Bachchan- Sanjay Dutt et al in "Deewar", Ajay Devgan- Vivek Oberoi- Abhishek Bachchan in "Yuva", Abhishek Bachchan- Uday Chopra in "Dhoom", Vivek Oberoi- Aftab Shivdasani- Riteish Deshmukh in "Masti", Akshay Kumar- Salman Khan in "Mujhse Shaadi Karogi", Nana Patekar- Nakul Vaid in "Ab Tak Chappan", or Shah Rukh Khan- Zayed Khan in "Main Hoon Na".

It was male bonding that highlighted some of the most successful, most influential films in 2004.

In Raj Kumar Santoshi's "Khakee", Amitabh Bachchan, Akshay Kumar, Tusshar Kapoor and Atul Kulkarni waged the walloping war, while the female character played by Aishwarya Rai had to make her presence felt as "one of the boys".

In fact, one of the emergent trends from 2004 that is spilling over to 2005 is the woman's protagonist occupying space generally allotted to the male.

In 2004's "Rudraksh", Bipasha Basu tried to get chummy with the boys Sanjay Dutt and Suniel Shetty.

And now, in Vikram Bhatt's hi-tech actioner "Elaan", Lara Dutt was cast as "one of the boys".

"In fact I'm almost like Lara Croft in 'Elaan'. I do all the macho stunts along with John Abraham, Arjun Rampal and the others," gurgled Lara happily.

So where does all this mixing with the boys leave the leading ladies? Is it the end of woman-power as we knew it in the golden days of Jaya Bhaduri, Hema Malini and Shabana Azmi?

It's a disturbing, but undeniable fact that women-oriented films aren't doing well, unless they are peek-a-boo binges like "Murder" and "Julie".

Qualitatively superior, female-centric films such as "Phir Milenge", "Morning Raga", "Dance Like A Man", "Khamosh Pani" and "Ek Hasina Thi" had a tough time keeping their heads above the water.

So is this end of the road for feminist cinema?

Box office statistics indicate that unless the woman agrees to take off her clothes, or behave like a man, audiences no longer feel enthused to make a beeline for the babes.

The bright light at the end of the tunnel, however, is the way women are portrayed in the films of the "thinking" directors.

In Mani Rathnam's "Yuva" and Govind Nihalani's "Dev", two of the most powerful films spotlighting male friendship in 2004, Kareena Kapoor was peripheral, yet pivotal to the plot.

And again, what would Salman and Akshay's bickerings have amounted to in David Dhawan's "Mujhse Shaadi Karogi" if their bone of contention wasn't as shapely as Priyanka Chopra?

In 2005, Bollywood has some impressive roles to offer its ladies.

Right at the start this year is Subhash Ghai's "Kisna", Sanjay Leela Bhansali's "Black" and Dharmesh Darshan's "Bewafaa", where the ladies have more to do than flaunting skin and muscle.

Hopefully, we can look forward to the first authentic women-centric hit after Madhur Bhandarkar's Chandni Bar two years ago.