Kochi: Amala Paul, one of best-known actresses in both Malayalam and Tamil film industries, was recently dropped from a film following her wedding announcement with popular director A.L. Vijay. Makers of the Telugu movie Vastah Ne Venaka were miffed by the announcement as they believed that the marriage would affect the audience response to the romantic film.
This is no stray incident. Many popular actresses have fallen off the radar after marriage for no other apparent reason. So why does the marital status of an actress affect her career, whereas an actor has no such constraints?
Reacting to the filmmaker’s decision, Amala says, “When the producers of the films had approached me for my dates, they were optimistic about commencing shooting from March. An agreement was mutually signed and I allotted 45 days from March to May. As the shooting days neared and we called up for the exact schedule, the response was evasive. But considering the normal working procedure of the industry, I tried my best to accommodate them. The response to this gesture of mine was again dodgy. To add insult to injury, now they allege I did not inform them of my wedding. Why would I, if the shoot is scheduled to start in March and conclude by May? My wedding is planned for June. To hide their inability to shoot during the prescribed time, they shift the entire blame on my wedding and accuse me of not declaring my wedding plans to them. A wedding is a once-in-a-lifetime event and mud-slinging on this account is very painful.”
Anjali Aneesh Upasana agrees, saying, “I am married, have a kid and I still get lead roles. As long as you can maintain your figure and take care of your looks after marriage, whether you are married, divorced or a mother of 10 kids should not matter. In terms of a film, all that matters is whether you look good and whether you can act. But I don’t think the industry as a whole can be accused of following such ridiculous parameters. These are the opinions of a handful of people in the industry. Otherwise, we could never find actresses like Kaniha, Nyla and Srinda Ashab playing lead roles in movies. I have had people tell me that I would have had a great career had I not been married. I worked for four years before getting married and nobody offered me such roles. I think these are just excuses.”
Commenting to the same scenario, actress Vaigha says, “It is a rare phenomenon you see only in the south Indian film industries. In an age where a lot of actresses are openly dating and having live-in relationships, I really don’t understand how the marital status of a woman is relevant to her career. Getting married and having kids is a part of life. We have so many married actresses like Manju Warrier, Urvashi and Rima Kallingal doing very well in the industry. So many of your heroes are getting married and nobody is bothered about that! I think this is just another example of gender bias prevalent in the industry.”
Rima Kallingal had recently expressed a similar opinion in an interview and said, “You ask actresses whether we will act after marriage and whether we will stay in the industry. Why should we? What relevant roles do you offer us that can make us decide to stay?”
Vaigha adds, “Recently, a rumour was doing the rounds that I had gotten married and settled in Chennai. A friend of mine told me that I had been considered for a lead role in a Malayalam film, but was not offered the role because one of the casting crew rejected me because he thought I was married! I wonder when our industry will change such primitive ideologies.”
