Casting Couch: The Equalizer

An actress spoke to me about the casting couch culture in Kollywood.  She checked the Karuththu Kannammaa page and saw the comments shaming actresses as "pacha thevidiyas" with no regard for people's opinions and will sleep with anyone to get ahead in their career.

The following isn't a tearful rant from a victim. It's a fiery opposition and equalizing things between men and women by someone affected by a shady, clandestine system that exonerates the men who created, develop, and use the system and getting no blame for it. The actress calls those producers, directors, cameramen "systemic thevidiya junnis." I think it's apt AF. 

"If you won't question and shame those men who perpetuate this organized system, you have no right to question the actresses who go along with the system. Yes, I wasn't forced but why do they put such a deal when the business is to be fair, open, and transparent with a single-pronged focus on acting talent and not bargains to "adjust?" Why must I even hear of such conditions? See my talent and if it's good, hire me. If it's bad, reject me. Why must I shed clothes and bed filthy old men with smelly mouths and pot bellies to get a role?"

Indian men always say that the likes of Shivani Narayanan and Malavika Mohanan shed their clothes to get movie chances and laugh about it. Has it ever occurred to them why these directors look for women who show skin and not talent in the first place? And what's wrong if these women leverage THEIR BODIES to get gigs, audience, and fan following? Item songs and cringe scenes where women are given skimpy outfits even in wintry climates are all directed by males - but they go unquestioned. Yes, we agree to act and dance under such conditions but who created this and enjoys this?

"Vethai potathu avanunga, Devar caste punch, take it uh!  Aana kooni kurighi nanga nikkonoma? These producers have caste fetish - there's a reason why only heroines from certain castes, with a certain skin color dominate the entire Indian film industry - it's due to these guys' preference which trickles down to the audience. This doesn't mean the few dusky women in the industry are spared - SC fetish nu separate fetish irku."

"Yes, I slept with them and if that makes me a wh0re, they are systematic wh0res. They take advantage of girls from deprived backgrounds who need quick money for their familial dire straits. But this goes unquestioned so these influential men in the industry can continue being sadistic satyromaniacs preying on girls who dare to dream and desperate for quick money and do unspeakable things to them - it's not lovemaking - it's in the league of Marquis de Sade's ghastly penning. 

If an actress has to show cleavage, navels, or thighs for a song, she needs makeup to cover burn, bite, and hit marks there - often, the wounds are fresh and we have to act with the pain and trauma - most of us don't talk about it but the men gossip about us. And they call women "gossip queens," lol.

This also benefits the common men - they use actresses for their perverse self-gratification. When they are opposed, they justify their acts by saying, "These actresses sleep their way up. They aren't patthini for us to respect them."

"They use me, I use them back. What is wrong in that? I might turn the cogs of this system but if these men only need acting talent and not "beautiful, white skinned" women to sleep with, I would be here or wouldn't for the lack of acting talent without having to sleep with these married, cheating pantywaists that act like saints outside. Call me a sl(t for choosing this profession despite its perceived "debauchery." I call these men systemic sl(ts for leveraging women's ambitions and passion - even school teachers and college professors do this - will you tell women to not pursue an education? 

I asked her about marriage and she said that most actresses and female models stay

 single because of the bitter experiences they had faced in the hands of men. These guys don't respect us at all. They either want to exploit us or shame us. Well, I won't want to marry men who think like those dirty producers anyway. Indha junninga yaara enna reject panna? Ithungala naa reject panren, apala po satane. Oh, I insulted Satan who actually treats women with respect - yes, call me deviant but these are Hindu, Christian, Muslim men - they may fight on their religious tenets but they are unified under the banner of oppressing, exploiting, and abusing women."

When queried about family life, she said, "I will adopt children (girl children) and raise them to become brave warriors. What I told you, I'll tell my kids. What these filthy men rejecting me, I reject the whole male gender. There might be Dr Kalam and Dr Abraham George among them but they'd be collateral cos what I learned is not to trust any male. Call me a misandrist but think how and why did I come to this conclusion, who made this industry a flesh trade, and how you perceive women. It's not us who shouldn't choose this profession. It's you who should clean it up and see only talent, not the readiness to take your cigarette burns on our "almond-milk, ghee colored" bodies on bed, legs spread.