MUMBAI: After decades of male domination, Bollywood has seen a recent wave of hit movies starring Indian women in tough, smart lead roles, suggesting the gender tide may finally be turning.

India’s movie goers are used to watching glamorous and often scantily clad women on screen, almost always playing damsels in distress or love interests torn between family duty and following their heart.

But a series of gritty leading roles for women, including a boxing champion and a detective, is marking a cinematic shift from outdated stereotypes to a more accurate reflection of modern India.

“The good-guy bad-guy formula is no longer working and we are exploring real stories,” actress Huma Qureshi told AFP.

“We are opening up to new experiences and that is reflective of society. The writing is improving and actors are willing to take more chances,” she added.

Qureshi co-starred with Madhuri Dixit in “Dedh Ishqiya,” a story about two strong women who refuse to play by the rules. It was one of more than a dozen women-centric Bollywood movies released last year that saw actresses — and not their male counterparts — plastered on promotional billboards across the country.

Others that made waves at the box office included Kangana Ranaut’s “Queen,” “Mary Kom,” “Mardaani” and “Highway,” while “Piku,” “NH10” and “Tanu Weds Manu Returns” did the same this year.

Two more are in the pipeline: action thriller “Jazbaa,” starring Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, and “Bajirao Mastani,” a romantic period drama featuring Deepika Padukone and Priyanka Chopra.

For a film with a female protagonist to get the go ahead, the budget must be kept low to lessen the risks and increase the possibility of profits, according to producer Dia Mirza.

Mirza, who produced “Bobby Jasoos,” a 2014 film about a female detective, suggests backers are wary of women-centric films because the Indian movie-going audience is largely male.

“They seek a certain masculinity in cinema which is why commercial potboilers portray male protagonists in a certain way.