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“The Tamil audience want their money’s worth with actresses clad in skimpy clothes for glamour value.”
No, we didn’t say that. This comment came from Suraj, the director of the recently-released Tamil action-comedy film Kaththi Sandai, starring Vishal and Tamannaah.
At a promotional event for his movie, Suraj was asked about Tamannaah’s role in the movie. Here’s what he said:
There’s more. Suraj also revealed that he asks his costume designers to shorten the length of any costume that covers his heroines' knees.
This is surely not the first time that a filmmaker has made such sick, misogynistic comments, but in an industry that follows an Omerta code, actresses hardly speak out. Tamannaah, however, broke that code, releasing a statement on Monday condemning Suraj.
“This is 2016 and it is very ironic that I had to leave (watching) a film like Dangal in the middle which is on woman empowerment to tackle this issue. I am very hurt and angered by the comments made by my director Suraj and I would definitely want him to apologise, not only to me, but to all women in the industry.”
She also added:
It was ‘female superstar’ Nayanthara, who first slammed Suraj, like a boss.
Nayanthara came down hard on the director saying actresses were not strippers who shed clothes for money.
Speaking to Sify, Nayanthara asked if Suraj would dare to speak about the working women in his family in a similarly degrading manner that he did about his heroines.
She emphasised that while she had also done her share of glamorous roles for commercial films but out of choice. “No one has the right to think that heroines can be taken for granted,” she said.
After the backlash, Suraj apologised to Tamannaah and other heroines saying that he did not mean to portray anyone in bad light or hurt their sentiments.
Actor Rana Daggubati also slammed the director for his sexist comments, calling him a “disgrace” to the film fraternity.
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Published: 26 Dec 2016,09:04 PM IST