Great time to be a woman in Indian cinema: Sonakshi

Mumbai: Actress Sonakshi Sinha says that it is a great time to be a women in Indian cinema as great characters are being written for them while audience too accepted them.   "I think it is about time that they did and there are some great characters being written out for women in today's films and I am really happy for that." Sonakshi said at the launch of her song 'Rajj Rajj Ke' from her film 'Akira', which she has sung herself.   "And the audiences have become so much more accepting of what they are watching on screen, so I think it is a great time to be a woman in Indian cinema," Sonakshi added further.   Recently, actresses like Sonam Kapoor in 'Neerja', Priyanka Chopra in 'Mary Kom', Kangana Ranaut in 'Queena', Anushka Sharma in 'NH 10', Vidya Balan in 'Kahaani' have carried films on their shoulders, while Alia Bhatt in 'Highway', Deepika Padukone in 'Pikua' among others have had meaty characters.   When asked why she decided to do a women-centric film, Sonakshi said, "When I do other films, you all say why you do not do women-centric films, when I do women-centric, you say why women-centric film. So now what to do?"   Sonakshi will be seen in some intense action sequences in 'Akira'. About her preparation for it, she said, "It's actually been the most challenging, most physically demanding film I have ever been a part of. I had to work very hard, it was very gruelling, very hard training I had to go through in mixed martial arts. I had to work on myself so that it looks convincing.   'Akira', directed by A. R. Murugadoss, also stars Anurag Kashyap and Konkona Sensharma.