Filmmaker Sanal Kumar points to Parvathy's hypocrisy
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Sanal Kumar Sasidharan has dismissed actress Parvathy's comment that male supremacy in Malayalam cinema has brought down her professional assignments. Buttressing his claim, the 41-year-old director said he had earlier this year invited Parvathy for a movie, but got no response from the actress.
Thiruvananthapuram-based Sanal, who is mostly into making offbeat movies, says Parvathy’s silence to his project prompts one to suspect whether the actress, 30, meant female subjugation existed only in mainstream commercial cinema driven by superstars.
In a social media message, he wondered whether it wasn’t hypocrisy to insist on acting only opposite the same set of stars who she otherwise accused of being male chauvinists.
Here's the full text of Sanal's Facebook post:
A few months ago, I was discussing a project with an actor who is also a good friend. He is not prejudiced against anybody. (I am also happy to work with artistes who are able and have a stand on matters.) In the movie, when our talk turned towards the cast, Parvathy’s name came up.
At this I expressed apprehensions whether she would cooperate in a low-budget and independent movie. My friend asked me why I was prejudging her and immediately passed on to be the phone number of the actress, asking me to contact her. I called, Parvathy didn’t pick the phone. Maybe she was busy or wasn’t keen to pick calls from unfamiliar numbers, I thought. And sent her a message asking if she could listen to the subject of the movie. I got no reply whatsoever. I gave up at that point.
Of course, it’s left to the discretion of an artiste on whether or not to listen to the story of a proposed movie or act in it. But to fight against superstar dominance and male supremacy in cinema on the one side and to lament of decreasing chances on the other leaves one doubting whether all she meant was lack of opportunities in movies led by the same set of chauvinists.
Else, why doesn’t she stop looking at just big-budget movies in the industry and cooperate with independent movies that are substantive? Not doing so, and instead wanting to act in the retrograde movies featuring the very stars against whom she is fighting is hypocritical, right?