Today is International Women's Day, and on behalf of the Latestly desk, we wish the stronger sex Happy Women's Day. That said, I believe that now is time to celebrate any day as such instead of waiting for 8th of March every year.

It feels really good to see that the women around us are making their voice be heard with greater impact than it was a few years back, be it in any field. From media to corporate, from assemblies to panchayats, women are making their presence felt in a rather strong way. And since we are talking Bollywood here, there is a wave hitting the industry too. Sure, there is a lot of work to be done, but we have been making some fine progress here.

For every Sonu Ki Titu Ki Sweety (that celebrates female bashing) and Judwaa 2 (where slapping a woman's butt is cheered upon), there is a Tumhari Sulu or a Secret Superstar, a English Vinglish or a Queen. And thankfully, many of them works at the box office too.

However, there are some movies that are perceived to be women empowering and may even put the leading ladies in the front, but they aren't. We are not saying that they are bad movies; they just don't live upto our expectations of being women-empowering movies. Here are five such recent movies that hoodwinked you in believing they believe in women empowerment!

Padmaavat

Padmavaat is often called by many as a movie that stood for women empowerment. Sadly, I disagree. It is anything but that. I know that the makers have to stick to the folklore that has Rani Padmini and the Rajput women commit jauhar rather than be slaves to the invading Khilji army, but it is the characterisation of the Queen that stings you. For one, a movie called Padmaavat (earlier called Padmavati) gives more screentime to Ranveer's Khilji. Secondly, Padmavati is shown to be more skilled in armfare and brainy than her egoistic husband, and yet except for trying to save him from Khilji's dungeons, she never even offers to fight besides him in the war. Instead, she asks for his permission to commit jauhar.

If Deepika is really paid more than both the lead actors, that's empowering for sure. Not the movie, though!

Lipstick Under My Burkha

Lipstick Under My Burkha is a little gem that highlights the real problems of women in the society. That's it. While we want to look for the end of the tunnel for the four women protagonists in the movie, sadly, we find there is none. Why collect the firewood, if you didn't want to give the women a spark of hope?

PadMan

For a movie that is made about the welfare of the women, it is the women itself who turn out to be the weakest part in Akshay Kumar's social drama. Despite themselves going through the ordeal menstruation  every month, none of the women in the hero's village, including his wife, is willing to have an iota of change in heart, while Akshay's Laxmikant Chauhan got his enlightenment overnight. Sonam Kapoor's character fared better, as she helps him out in spreading the good word. But in the end, even she fell for the old Bollywood trope of losing her heart to the hero, because of course, 'ek ladka aur ladki kabhi dost nahi ho sakte...'.

Naam Shabana

A spinoff based on Baby's kickass female supporting actor sounded exciting and promising, But Naam Shabana turned out to be a tedious watch thanks to Taapsee Pannu's extremely dour character. The fact that she needed a tragic background to even be a part of India's super spy programme was stupid, and morever, she needed Akshay Kumar's Rathore to bail her out when she is in a tight spot doesn't make her all empowered. But kudos to the makers anyway for making a movie about her rather than about Rana Daggubati's character in  Baby.

Dear Zindagi

Dear Zindagi puts Alia Bhatt in the forefront and is all about her character, which is great. She is shown as independent and doesn't let the men rule her life.But then she has problems and therein also come the movie's real issue about being a women-empowering one. We have this notion that a women-centric movie means a women-empowering movie, which is not always the case. Especially not Dear Zindagi, whose USP was 'hey, Shah Rukh Khan is playing a hot psychiatrist!'. Yup, you did put a talented actress in the frontlines, but you still needed a male superstar to sell the movie.

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(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 08, 2018 03:43 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).