Sudhir Mishra's Khoya Khoya Chand may not have been a box office hit, but the central character of Nikhat, played by Soha Ali Khan is a dream role for most women actors in the Hindi film industry.

If you count the most memorable roles for women actors, you usually first hit the 50s.

According to author and film writer, Nasreen Munni Kabir: ''The 1950s was an excellent time for women characters in Indian cinema. It was a time when women were seen as equals, something that is not seen today. Not just Guru Dutt, but Raj Kapoor, Bimal Roy and Mehboob Khan also gave them due significance."

There was Nargis in Mother India, a single mother taking on the moneyed landlords, living in abject poverty and finally killing her own son to uphold justice.

Similarly we saw Madhubala playing the role of Anarkali at the end of the decade - a character that could pose a challenge to no one less than Akbar the Great.

Like these two, Nutan's role in Bandini also pushed these boundaries to the limit. In a time when women had no choices, Kalyani a female prisoner is shown as serving a sentence for murder. She may be in prison, but her mind is free and she is free to make the most unconventional choices.
Meena Kumari playing the role of Chhoti Bahu in Sahib, Biwi Aur Ghulam was no less. Her husband prefered spending most of his time at the house of a courtesan, while she spent her time yearning and longing. We saw her drinking alcohol and depicting a form of assertiveness that was considered scandoulous for a traditional Hindu wife.

In Devdas, Vyjanthimala playing the unforgettable nautch girl Chandramukhi was depicted as caught between eternal love and loss.

The movie's director got so captivated by the expressive face of Waheeda Rehman that he saw from behind the camera and he decided to cast her as the heroine of his film. And of course her muse like quality that dominated films like Pyasaaand Kagaaz ke Phool.

In fact the Waheeda Rehman-Guru Dutt relationship is said to be one of the inspirations behind the story of Khoya Khoya Chand.

''They were tremendous actresses and such spontaneity and such grace. And it wasn't very direct and saw much more. For example Madhubala in Mughal-e-Azam or Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi. Nargis in so many of her parts. Meena Kumari in Sahib Biwi aur Ghulam'', says the director of Khoya Khoya Chand, Sudhir Mishra.

No wonder the actresses of today are envious of that era. ''There were so many things. Essentially the story, the romance, the time period and the excitement of doing a number of roles within a role," says Soha.

One look at the heroines of the yesteryears and their modern day remixes and you'll find the irony.

A paradox top prominent to be ignored: Indian cinema is meant to be evolving. So why in our times, does a meaningful role for an actress mean playing a character of the 50s?