How exciting is it when the otherwise frail Bollywood heroine picks up a weapon?

Bollywood may have witnessed the growth of new age cinema, but where women-oriented characters are concerned, the industry is still left wanting. More so with regards to women characters toting guns and other weapons; they continue to be a not-so-common phenomenon. No wonder then, such characters are known to pique the interest of movie-goers.

Kangna Ranaut

With Kangna Ranaut going full throttle in her Revolver Rani avatar, we take a look at some of the recent films where Bollywood actresses wielded a weapon and left a mark...

Deepika Padukone

Film: Ram-Leela (2013)
Director: Sanjay Leela Bhansali
Wow factor: Playing a Gujarati girl in a town where blood flows freely, Dippy brandishes a gun with such elan that it becomes clear that she won't shy away from pulling the trigger either.

Parineeti Chopra

Film: Ishaqzaade (2012)
Director: Habib Faisal
Wow factor: Her character is introduced as someone who is not only politically driven but is also fearless. That is before she falls in love and hurts her ego in the process.

Priyanka Chopra

Film: Kaminey (2009)
Director: Vishal Bhardwaj
Wow factor: Even though her gun-toting character in Don (2011) deserves a mention, Piggy Chops made her presence felt with Kaminey, where her character, named Sweety, carries a machine gun and leaves a lasting impression.

Huma Qureshi

Film: D-Day (2013)
Director: Nikhil Advani
Wow factor: Playing a government agent in this spy thriller, Huma has all things under control here. Her deft handling of weapons in the film only consolidated her character.

Vidya Balan

Film: Ishqiya (2010)
Director: Abhishek Chaubey
Wow factor: Be it a knife, scalpel or a loaded gun, Vidya's Krishna Verma can handle everything and that too while wearing bright coloured sarees. To top it all, her character delivers some bold dialogues.

Neha Dhupia

Film: Phas Gaye Re Obama (2010)
Director: Subhash Kapoor
Wow factor: It'd be an understatement to say that Neha's performance in this film was good. Her character - undoubtedly inspired by Shabana Azmi in Godmother (1999) - evoked both fear and respect.

Blast from the past


Nadia

Fearless Nadia made a career out of performing her own stunts in adventure-filled films.

Seema Biswas's portrayal of dacoit-turned-politician Phoolan Devi was indeed remarkable for touching upon victimisation, vengeance and vindication.

In Godmother, Shabana Azmi impressed one and all with her National Award-winning performance. She played an insecure mafia queen in the film.

Peoplespeak

Tanmay Barhale, 25, software engineer
Bandit Queen is my favourite film in this particular genre. Such loud characters speak for the issues women face in their day-to-day life - they deal with ire by holding a gun and mouthing dialogues.

Anu Varghese, 27, filmmaker
It's a welcome change. People are anyway bored of watching guys have all the fun. To me, Seema Biswas gave everyone a run for their money with her role in The Bandit Queen. That's the ultimate benchmark.

Tushar Shetty, 28, graphic designer
Karisma Kapoor's final scene in Fiza, where she fatally shoots Hrithik Roshan's character, is among my all-time favourites. Having said that, nobody plays evil in style the way Bindu did.

Shybu Khan, 28, graphic designer
I think we need more Bandit Queens and Khoon Bhari Maangs but we aren't doing fine. After all, there is a reason why Hollywood still hasn't released a Wonder Woman film. Superheroes seem predominantly male.

Jaykrishnan Pillai, 28, consultant
I couldn't recover from the mind-numbing image of Rekha playing Madam X, but in recent times, I was blown away by Surpriya Phatak's powerhouse performance in Ram-Leela. Such characters are great.