Directors Neeraja Kona, Jeevitha Rajasekhar, Lakshmi Sowjanya and Nandini Reddy (Photos by arrangement)
Hyderabad: 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 boats 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.
He further claims that women directors are capable of dishing out soft love stories and family dramas. “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.
Dismissing the argument that women directors are capable of only dishing out feel-good entertainers, actor-turned-director Jeevitha Rajasekhar concludes, “It is just a myth that women can explore certain themes which is not true. These days young girls are well versed and exposed to world cinema. They could even make action films, like I have done in the past, so just waiting for an opportunity and gender bias is just illogical."
( Source : Deccan Chronicle )
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