She's synonymous with her specs, shrugs and curly hair. And those who know her well, vouch for her intelligence and creative talent.

Film-maker Kiran Rao, who started her career as an assistant director in Lagaan, and went on to do films like Swades, Monsoon Wedding and Dhobi Ghat, feels that women have always been strongly represented in Bollywood and television.

With women-oriented films slowly gaining in popularity, Kiran, who is a board member of Women In Films And Television (WIFT), talks to CS about women and films:

Good, bad and ugly
I think women have always had a strong representation in Indian cinema, barring a period in the 80s when most of the films were action-oriented.

Over the years, we've seen the decline of the 'vamp', and the emergence of the 'item' girl, as well as the rise of the 'saas' and 'bahu'. While objectification of women is strongly prevalent in our visual media -- including advertising -- we have had strong nuanced leading women characters as well.

I hope the latter will continue, as we need to see more varied women characters in media. Art reflects society. In real life, there are different kinds of women, so it can't be that women are only shown as good or virtuous in films or serials.

I feel creative people should have the freedom to create diverse women characters -- including negative ones, as long as they are not just perpetuating stereotypes.

Ladies only
As a filmmaker, I aspire to create some memorable women characters. I don't agree with the notion that female directors only make women-oriented films.

Take Farah Khan or Reema Kagti. I think women filmmakers make films with more interesting women characters. But that's about it. I am inspired by the avant-garde filmmaker Maya Deren as well as contemporary women filmmakers like Lynne Ramsey and Sofia Coppola.

Talking about women characters in Bollywood, I adore Nargis Dutt's Radha in Mother India, Shabana Azmi as Rukmini Bai in Mandi, Sridevi as Seema Sohni in Mr India and Waheeda Rehman as Gulabo in Pyaasa. I am also a great fan of Smita Patil. She was fabulous as Zeenat in Mandi.

Not so hot

The depiction of women as sexual objects has a negative impact on how women are perceived to a large extent. I feel directors should be more sensitive in their portrayal of women characters. But, what hurts me the most is the denial of a woman's basic human rights and equality in many parts of our society.