Mumbai: Actor Regena Cassandrra has criticised Janhvi Kapoor and Radhika Apte for speaking about their uncomfortable experiences working in Telugu films, saying they could have walked out of the projects instead. She also accused the two actors of creating a North-South divide in the film industry.
In an interview with India Today, Cassandrra was asked about Kapoor’s recent comments on the sexualisation of her character in Peddi and Apte’s experience working opposite an older actor in a Telugu film.
“If you feel uncomfortable, please walk out of the film,” Cassandrra said. She argued that established actors like Kapoor and Apte had the choice to refuse films they were uncomfortable with.
She also questioned why women agreed to work opposite much older male actors if they had a problem with it. While Cassandrra admitted that actors could feel pressured, she argued that they were not completely helpless.
“But you are not being raped. I’m sorry,” she said, adding that there were legal ways to deal with such situations.
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‘North-South divide’
Cassandrra said she was glad Kapoor and Apte were speaking about their experiences, but objected to the way they discussed South Indian cinema.
“You are creating a North-South divide without even realising it, and that is absolutely wrong,” she said.
“I already face stigma when I go to the North because I am a South Indian actress,” Cassandrra added. She then recalled being left out of promotions for Dharma Productions’ Kesari: Chapter 2, despite playing Akshay Kumar’s wife.
“Now, what am I supposed to call that? Is that objectification because I am a South Indian?” she asked. Cassandrra said she had never been given a reason for her exclusion.
Kapoor had spoken about the sexualisation of her character in Peddi during a recent appearance on Koffee With Karan. She admitted that she should have pushed back more firmly during filming, but said she did not always know how scenes would eventually be shot.
“I should have taken advantage of my privilege. It was a violating experience in a way,” Kapoor said.
Apte, meanwhile, recently told Zoom that she had worked on a Telugu film in which her character married her maternal uncle and she had to “romance a much older actor”
“It was the most challenging film. I hated everything about it,” she said while promoting Akka. Apte did not name the film.
(Edited by Aamaan Alam Khan)