Taapsee Pannu's latest release Gandhari is streaming on Netflix. (Photo: Instagram/Taapsee Pannu)Taapsee Pannu, who is currently promoting her film Gandhari, has opened up about how the failure of a female-led film, particularly one with a relatively big budget, can affect the prospects of other women-led projects. In a recent conversation with Zoom TV, she shared how the failure of Alia Bhatt-led Alpha affected her own projects.During the conversation, Taapsee stressed that female-led films are often held to a higher standard, with audiences and investors expecting them to be near-perfect if a substantial amount of money is invested in them.“One thing I’ve noticed, and people have been asking me this lately, is that when you put money into a film or mount an action film on a female actor—which is not a conventional genre for a woman—people ask, ‘Why doesn’t it work?’ If you put money into it, make it a big film, and it doesn’t work, then how will anyone invest money again? I have only one question,” Taapsee said.Taapsee added, “The big, male-driven film that money is invested in—does it always have an impeccable storyline? Does it always have layers and nuances? Isn’t it sometimes just about glamorisation and wow action sequences?”She pointed out that there is a difference in the standards applied to male- and female-led films.“This is what happens. If there is a male-driven action film, or any kind of big-budget film, and the story is 15 or 20—let’s say 19 or 20—even if it is 15 or 20, it will work. But our measuring yard is different. If so much money is invested in a female-driven film, there is an expectation that, forget 19 or 20, you have to deliver 21. You cannot go wrong. So, the bandwidth we have for going wrong, the scope of error we have, our delta—that is in minus.”ALSO READ: ‘Young Amitabh’ Mayur Verma quit Bollywood to follow wife’s dream, now runs restaurantsStory continues below this adImpact of female-led projects’ failureTaapsee said that the failure of a big-budget female-led film can have a direct impact on other actresses who want to headline films. She also explained that budgets for female-led projects are often considered “big” only in relative terms.“If one female-driven film, especially a relatively higher-budget film, flops—and I say ‘relative’ because the budget is not as high as you would expect. If you compare it with the budget of Dhurandhar, it is just a fraction of that—but if there is a flop, the entire community gets affected.”She added, “All of our leading actresses who want to do films where we lead the story—it impacts all of us. All of our films get shelved. I can tell you from my own experience: if there is a big female-driven flop in a particular year, then the conversations I have with investors change. Investors back out.”How Alpha’s failure affected TaapseeWhen asked if she experienced this after Alpha failed at the box office, Taapsee said it was something that happens repeatedly.Story continues below this ad“Yes. Every year it happens. The conversations are like, ‘These days, female-driven films are not working. If such a big superstar’s film is not working, then what will happen to the rest? That’s why we won’t make them now. Women-driven cinema is not popular now.’”Taapsee added that this can result in several projects being abandoned altogether.“So, if you are talking about four or five films in the market, one or two of them get shelved because someone else’s film flopped. That’s the kind of impact.”Alpha, made on a reported budget of Rs 130 crore, earned Rs 100 crore worldwide. Starring Alia Bhatt and Sharvari, Alpha was the first female-led film in the YRF Spy Universe.Story continues below this adHowever, Taapsee also pointed out that the opposite can happen when a female-led film succeeds.“There is also a positive side. When someone else’s film becomes popular, suddenly there are new phone calls. People say, ‘Let’s attempt this genre. This is working.’ Suddenly, if a horror movie is doing well and it is driven by a female actor, they call and say, ‘With a female, we can make horror. That has worked.’”“So, it becomes positive for us. Our films get made if that continues. So, we are all together. We are all in the same boat.”About GandhariDirected by Devashish Makhija and written and produced by Kanika Dhillon, Gandhari stars Taapsee Pannu in the lead role alongside Ishwak Singh. The film is currently streaming on Netflix.