Often, women working in the industry are judged, body-shamed, trolled, and are victims of online abuse almost on a daily basis. But no film is complete without them. On this International Women's Day, here are some of the actresses from the south are voicing their opinion about the change they think women should bring into their lives and what women think they should start doing for themselves first.
Actress Anupama Parameswaran says, "I think the question itself has the answer. Women need to put themselves first. Remember what they say on the flight? Wear the oxygen masks first and then help the rest. If you don't love or give importance to yourself, nobody will. Do things that make you happy." Anupama will next be seen in the sequel of DJ Tillu.
Samyuktha Menon, who is currently basking on the success of Dhanush's SIR, has something special to say on the occasion of Women's Day. The actress said, "Do not let anyone else take decisions in your life. Taking guidance and opinions from your loved ones and well-wishers is fine up to a certain level but all the final decisions should be yours. It's very common to hear things like, 'my boyfriend didn't allow me to wear sleeveless' or 'my husband allowed me to work after marriage'. But the question is why should they allow you to chase your dreams? It's your choice woman! Take your own choices and decisions. Life is all yours. Yours only."
Faria Abdulla, who made people fall in love with her for her performance in Jathirathnalu, thinks women are blessed with an abundant flow of feminine energy. "This means women are naturally loving, caring, creative and nurturing. These are our superpowers and we must use them to heal the world and spread love. I wish women understood that it was never the idea to compete with men or compare themselves to anyone else. It's about fully being ourselves, fully being a balanced human and everything else will automatically fall into place. We won't need to fight for a place, we already have it."
Riddhi Kumar became quite popular after working with Prabhas in Radhe Shyam and is said to be next seen in Raja Deluxe with him again. When asked about what change she would like to see, she said, "I think as a woman that women are doing everything that they can. Doing more. It is for the abolishment of patriarchy and equality that we fight for. It is a change in society that requires both men and women to change their perspective towards a more equal and respectful standard. Apart from that, asking women to change on women's day so that they get treated better feels like I'm blaming them for the fault of patriarchy which is the root cause of all problems."
Priya Banerjee, who is awaiting the release of Rana Naidu, in which she paired with Rana said, "For me, the biggest change I would like to see is equal pay rights for all women in every line of work. For decades women have been deprived of equal pay even though we put in the same or sometimes even more amount of work, time and effort than a man in the same field but we have still not seen that change in several lines of work. It's high time we recognise the hard work a woman puts in and not deprive them of higher pay just based on gender. I can go on about this but I think the world is changing and slowly with the right mindset and awareness we will eventually have the right to equal pay, titles and respect in every field of work."
