Suhasini recalls that Mani Ratnam fired crew member for ‘crossing the line’ on his set
Suhasini recalls that Mani Ratnam fired crew member for ‘crossing the line’ on his set
In the midst of the first panel discussion at the 55th International Film Festival in Goa, Suhasini recalled that her husband once fired a crew member for ‘crossing the line’ on his set. Adding that most of the people should be thrown out’
Notedly, the 55th International Film Festival of India (IFFI), Goa, kicked off with a conversation on Women’s Safety and Cinema. Moderated by actor-producer Vani Tripathi Tikoo, the session included filmmaker Imtiaz Ali, actors Suhasini Maniratnam, Kushboo Sundar, and Bhumi Pednekar, to discuss important issues around women’s safety in the film industry.
Amidst the conversation, Suhasini insisted that the Malayalam film industry was more unsafe in comparison to other film industries. She articulated that since Malayalam films are mostly shot on location, people stay away from their homes for longer.
Adding that there is a difference amid other industries and the film industry.
In other industries, you go to work and come back home. But what happens with films is that, around 200-300 people move to a place and then live there as a family. Sometimes, there are lines that are crossed willingly or unwillingly.”
In a normal unit, who are these 200 people who are there? There will be certain aberrations or some people who will take advantage of the fact that they are away from family. There are younger people in the industry, who are not experienced about how the industry functions, so they might take advantage,” she added.
Opening up on marriage with Mani Ratnam Suhasini says they don’t have major arguments: ‘
Suhasini shared that when she asked her husband, director Mani Ratnam, as to how he handles situations “where people cross a line”, he said that he fires those people. She asked her husband this morning, ‘What do you do?’, he gave her the name of a person that he threw out of the set because he crossed a certain line. After that he said, ‘Most of the people should be thrown out’. If 200 people will be there in a village without any rules, there will be lines that are crossed. That is where the problem is. Even in the Malayalam industry, it’s the same thing,” she said.
Suhasini implied that most Tamil films are shot in Chennai, Kannada films in Bengaluru, Telugu films in Hyderabad and Hindi films in Mumbai, while also insisting that Malayalam films aren’t shot in a particular place so the crew does not get to go home and have to stay on outdoor shoots for longer periods. “In Tamil films, we go back home to Chennai, in Telugu films, we go back home to Hyderabad, in Kannada films, we go back home to Bengaluru, and in Hindi films, you go back home to Mumbai. But in Malayalam films, they don’t go back home, because there is no particular place. So, there were lines that were crossed,” she said.
Earlier this year, the Hema Committee Report exposed how women in the Malayalam film were treated unfairly and harassed in the industry.
News Edit KV Raman
