Actress and filmmaker Suhasini Maniratnam, who turns 56 today, told the Indian Express in a freewheeling chat that what’s different about women in cinema today is that “[women] are learning the economics” of filmmaking. More than “artistic flair,” she said women needed to be as ambitious as men were, and see working in films for what it is – a full-time profession.
Suhasini said, “Men don’t let anything come between them and their filmmaking; they get an ambiance that helps them work. Right now, women don’t get that. All that is changing though. Women are learning the tricks of the business. More than artistic flair, they are now understanding the economics of it.”
She said marriage and age could change the roles, but there was still work for actresses. She said, “Women definitely get work, maybe not the kind of work that we want. There is always work in any age group. In fact, I realised that I have more work in my 50s than in my 40s.”
When asked to comment on how male actors could continue playing romantic leads for far longer, she said it had to do with audience expectations. She said, “The society is in a fantasy world where my uncle and my previous generation is still doing romantic roles but I am supposed to play a mother. However, he did not decide this, nor did I. It is the audience who have decided this.”
She attributed much of the sexism in films to the fact that a large number of cinemagoers are male, and their expectations from cinema revolve around male-centered fantasies. She said, [The obsession with fair skin] is something again decided by men. They fantasise something that is not near home, they always look at the west and are influenced by the same.”
She also said, “See, 75% of the audience who come to the theaters are men. That’s what decides what kind of genre the film should be in. They are not women-centric at all. Rather, it is the women they fantasise about, or the women they see at home, or the woman they don’t want anything to do with. It is decided by men. That’s why I think women aren’t getting better roles.”
One of the few women in the industry who has opened up about how the male-dominated industry, Suhasini said the disparity could – and would – be addressed. “More number of women need to go to cinemas or the movies need to go where women are,” she said.
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Recently, Soundarya Rajinikanth had also said there were fewer female directors in the industry but she herself had been making a conscious effort to restore the balance. “Earlier, women were in the costume department, but now we slowly have them as directors. It’s a feat. I also maintain a balance in the male-female ratio in my team. I made a conscious decision to have many girls as my assistant directors, and I definitely see them as directors some day,” she said.
Over the years, the industry has seen a surge in the number of films centred around women. There are also actresses like Kangana Ranaut, Deepika Padukone, Vidya Balan and Radhika Apte, for whom scripts are written. These actresses are not only highly successful, but also vocal about the industry’s pay disparity and sexism.
But films made by women are far fewer than those made by male directors. In 2016, among commercial films produced in India, over 12 were made by women directors.
Read: 6 Women Who Made A Mark In 2016
Also read: Long road to a level playing field – Interview with filmmaker Vaishnavi Sundar