Neeraja Kona to break jinx of female directors?
By : BVS Prakash
Update: 2024-08-24 18:40 GMT
Undeniably, a handful of female directors are finding it hard to get offers and they are unable to give a stiff competition to their male counterparts in Tollywood. However, debutant director Neeraja Kona is showing some hope and confidence with her upcoming film Telusu Kada with star Siddhu Jonallagadda to revive the fortunes of women directors in Tollywood. “I think women directors are capable of handling all kinds of themes because gender has nothing to do with talent and things will turn in favour of women directors,” says director Jeevitha Rajasekhar. Although she admits that direction is male domain, women are also finding their rightful place in the tinsel world. “It is just a matter of time before they rock,” she adds.
Meanwhile, film industry boasts of female directors like Nandini Reddy (Oh Baby), Sujana Rao (Gamanam), Seshu Sindhu Rao (Choosi Choodanganey), Sowjanya (Varudu Kavalenu) and Sanjana Reddy (Raju Gadu). They are unable to churn out more films and move up the ladder of success. New directors like Deepthi Ghanta (Meet Cute) and Neeraja Kona (to make a film with Siddhu Jonallagada) have just joined the fray. “I think few female directors have a few inhibitions about approaching producers. They are unable to visit the producer’s office repeatedly and seek offers,’ says producer Lagadapati Sridhar, who claims that the film industry has gained notoriety and lady directors are apprehensive. “Until film industry shuns its male-chauvinistic attitude, lady directors are going to find it hard to make a mark. A few of them told me that industry is not conducive for women directors unlike other professions and their repeated visits to a production house aren’t drawing good comments,” he says and adds, “Being brought up in conservative families, educated girls are unwilling to take chances. They would commence their next after finding a right producer and would like to sit idle at home rather than drawing brickbats,” he adds.
“They can handle tender emotions with ease so they are restricting themselves to romantic stories and family-driven sagas. With the season being for action flicks, they are unable to grab an offer,” he reasons, concluding, “It is just a myth that women can explore certain themes which is not true.”
New directors like Deepthi Ghanta (Meet Cute) and Neeraja Kona(to make a film with Siddhu Jonallagada) have just joined the fray. Producer Lagadapati Sridhar claims that the film industry has gained notoriety and lady directors are apprehensive. “until film industry shuns its male chauvinistic attitude, female directors are going to find it hard to make a mark. the industry isn’t conducive to women.”