Are Mollywood actresses easy targets?

Tamil filmmakers courting controversy by making offensive remarks, or by misbehaving with actresses in the name of shooting, is not new. As in the case of director/actor/cinematographer Thangar Bachan, who made this derogatory remark after a tiff with his Chidambarathil Oru Appasamy co-star Navya Nair — ‘actresses will do anything for money.’ In another incident, director Saamy slapped Padmapriya while shooting outdoors for Mirugam in front of the crowd, saying ‘she didn’t get the right expression.’ However, Padmapriya reported that Saamy misbehaved with her and gave her trouble after shooting hours. Both the directors were made to tender their apologies in front of the media at Nadigar Sangam.

The latest victim is Ishara Nair, who says that director Kevin of her upcoming film Engada Irundheenga Ivvalu Naala tried to misbehave with her under the pretence of teaching her a bold scene (which was apparently not in the script) and used filthy words on the sets — that is why she walked out of the film. Also, all these cases have involved actresses from Mollywood!

According to producer Joseph of Engada Irundheenga Ivvalu Naala and director Kevin, Ishaara worked only for two days and is refusing to honour her commitment. Upset by this, they lodged a complaint with the Malayalam Artistes Association and Actors Guild in Chennai.

Now, Ishaara spoke to us from Dubai, stating that it was the misbehaviour of the film’s director, which led to this issue. “I am an actress who has worked in other language films as well, apart from my debut flick Sathuranga Vettai in Tamil. Can you imagine an actress running away with '75,000, which was paid as my advance as alleged by them? They shot only two days and those two days were nightmarish for me.”

She adds, “On the first day, director Kevin had a scene in which I was to watch an X-rated film and get turned on by the video. He touched me all over,  under the pretext of teaching me! He even pushed me to the wall and hurt me.” As she wanted to leave, the producer said they would change the scene to the character watching Vinnai Thaandi Varuvaayaa.

“On the second day, there was a scene where I would be chased by a car. The director, who sat at the wheel that day, did not apply the brakes and it hit me!” Ishara claims, allegedly.

“Because of harassment and safety concerns, I am in no mood to work in this film anymore,” she states, adding, “They claim they would go to court. I am ready to face them legally.”

Director Kevin Joseph, when contacted, said, “This film’s theme revolves around cinema and I did discuss this bold scene while narrating the script. I asked her to emote accordingly but did not touch her or use vulgar words as Ishaara claims.

She can even see the edited portions edited by ace Suresh Urs. I have no intension of demeaning her. This is my first film, why would I risk it? I am ready to apologise, as I don’t want my producers to suffer because of this. We are a small start-up company. I want Ishaara to come and work and finish the film — that’s my only intention.”