‘Aakasam Nee Haddura‘ (Suriya’s ‘Soorarai Pottru’ in Tamil) has shown to the industry that female directors can indeed handle superstars like Suriya quite well balancing their stardom and coming up with an intriguing narrative. The movie has become a biggest blockbuster for Suriya after several years even though it had an OTT release.
Sudha Kongara didn’t reach this place sans struggles. She worked as an assistant director where she needed to compete with her male counterparts. The female director particularly mentioned working with ace director Mani Ratnam as his assistant director.
She was given equal importance and he didn’t treat her differently from her male counterparts (assistant directors working alongside her for Maniratnam). So, she calls the ace director a feminist who didn’t show any difference between his male and female technicians.
But back then, the conditions weren’t in favour of the female technicians who had no way to task for separate toilets and also talk about their period problems and she endured all that and now we know her place. She says it’s not easy to mention about periods before 185 or 200 people on sets?
Comparatively, the present-day conditions have improved and the female technicians are getting their due respect revealed Sudha Kongara who carved a special place for herself as the talented female filmmaker who can take up challenging subjects.
