She is the only actress in Kannada cinema to have a strong market even though she hasn’t had a movie release in years. Sandalwood star Ramya, who joined the Congress party in 2012, spoke about the state of Kannada cinema today in a panel discussion on Women in Cinema at the Bengaluru International Film Festival on Thursday.
Says no being a prop
Ramya lamented, “Malayalam cinema has such diverse roles for women but sadly Kannada cinema doesn’t have this. There are no strong characters written for women and I don’t want to continue playing a prop in a hero’s film – I did this 20 years ago and it’s still the same now. I don’t want to do a few scenes, some comedy and songs anymore.” She added that Kannada cinema had to learn from Malayalam cinema and evolve and hoped that the trend would change and quality roles for women would be written in Kannada cinema too.
She added, “I continue to see macho protagonists in Kannada films. Our filmmakers think being vulnerable is weak and don’t portray realistic characters on screen. However, this isn’t the case in Malayalam. Women as central characters in films will make the society more empathetic. Strong women characters doesn’t necessarily mean the woman should play a police officer on screen – women are resilient and their strength can be shown in other ways too. I want to see women’s roles in films which all women can relate to.”
While more producers should back women-centric films, the issue was the financial risk and reward of the business. An aspect she touched upon is that more women should come to theatres to watch women on film to encourage the trend. To a question as to why should women in the film industry wait for men to produce women-oriented films rather than take on the onus, Ramya countered, “I produced Swathi Mutthina Male Haniye in 2023 where the lead was a woman and it won many awards but it wasn’t a commercial success. How many women came to watch the film and support it in theatres?”
Why the pay disparity?
In cinema today, a highly debated topic is the pay disparity between the lead actor and actress. Ramya stated this must change and spoke about her own experience. “Years back I worked with some newcomer actors who are all big stars today. When they signed my film, they were paid less than me but when our film became a hit, they were paid 5000 times the salary – in crores – they got for my film while I was struggling to get even one crore. I have even refused films because I wasn’t paid as much as I was expecting to be paid only because I wanted to prove a point – unless I was being paid equally or more, I’m not going to do the film. So I have let go of films for this reason,” revealed the Ranga SLCC star.
The big comeback
Was Ramya set to make a comeback in Kannada cinema? “Yes, I am looking at scripts,” opened up the Sandalwood queen and hours later news came in of her signing a film with director Yogiraj Bhatt. The project will be a comeback for the star after nearly a decade and there was lot of excitement at this news. The producers of the Kannada hit Mungaru Male, E Krishnappa and G Gangadhar, are set to produce it in association with Ramya’s Applebox Studios. During the chat, Ramya revealed she had liked a women-oriented sports story narrated to her by Tamil director Brinda Gopal and cinematographer Preetha Jayaraman and was hoping to revisit it soon.
Kangana Ranaut and Emergency
An audience member asked Ramya about people failing to back Bollywood star Kangana Ranaut and her film Emergency. Ramya in response said, “Emergency was a badly made film. Kangana Ranaut is a very talented actress and it has nothing to do with her as a person. But that movie was bad and that is why the audience rejected it. Kangana also made Manikarnika and that was a hit because the content was good and the audience liked it.”
Now, her fans are looking forward to her comeback given the latest announcement.