Though all the top male stars of K’town — with the exception of Thala Ajith — go all out to promote their upcoming flicks, it is not the same case with respect to heroines. Of late, it looks like renowned actresses are absconding from the promotional events of their own movies!
For Nayanthara, who was recently absent from the promotion of her new film Iru Mugan with Vikram, it is a routine affair. People, who have worked with Nayan earlier, reveal that she is very clear about her moves. She stipulates that she would not attend the audio launches or other related activities of her movies, when a producer approaches her. Only when the filmmakers agree to this, does she sign on the dotted line. As luck would have it, most of her films are doing well at the box-office. Hence, with the film industry driven by sentiment, it seems producers have no issues even if the actress misses promos.
Recently, Tamannaah gave a miss to the promo of her upcoming flick Dharmadurai with Vijay Sethupathi, whereas second leads Aishwarya Rajesh and Srushti Dange tried to make up for her absence. Nithya Menen is a regular face seen at her movie promo events. She was present for Suriya’s 24, even when the other co-star Samantha did not show up. But, surprisingly she was not present for Iru Mugan, in which she plays one of the leads!
Even Radhika Apte and Dhanshika, the two lead ladies in Kabali were conspicuous by their absence at the success meet of the film where the entire cast and crew, barring Superstar, were present in a jubilant mood. Rajinikanth giving it a miss is altogether a different proposition though, says a close aide to the star. Reportedly, a few months back, PT Selvakumar, producer of the Jiiva-Hansika starrer Pokkiri Raja even complained to the producer council when Hansika did not turn up for the audio launch of the film.
As and when the Tamil Film Producers Council passes a resolution instructing producers to retain a portion of the actresses’ salaries and release it only after they attend the events of their yet to release movies, there will be a big hullaballoo. But, that discipline is short-lived, and eventually fizzles out after a point. “Be it Bollywood or K’town, most of the heroes on whom the entire business of the film lies, do not hesitate to reach out to the masses through promotions in all possible ways. Hence, heroines should have an equal responsibility and be part of the promotional activities of their movies,” states veteran filmmaker and producer Kayar.
