"I think people in South are a little ahead of times." Actor and politician Khushboo Sundar discussed Indian cinema and recounted her battle with an abusive father in this chat with Brut at #Cannes2023.
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00:00Somebody comes and pinches your cheek, you say don't touch, speak to me, if you find me cute,
00:04tell me in words, don't touch. It's a scar which remains with you, the wounds heal,
00:09but then the scar will go with me to my grave.
00:16Thank you ma'am for talking to Brute India. I wanted to start first with the speech that
00:20you just gave at the India Pavilion during the inauguration. You spoke that we should look at
00:26Indian cinema as one, you know we speak of Tollywood, South, Bollywood and you sort of
00:31brought the whole room together. I think we have been accepted as Indian cinema within ourselves.
00:37I think it's only when it comes to the media, with all due respect to them, they find it a
00:42little difficult to say South Indian region and then say that it's a Tamil cinema versus South
00:46Indian film, Telugu cinema. They find it a little lengthy so they make it a short term, this is
00:51Bollywood, this is Tollywood, that is Tollywood and this is Bollywood. I think we need to cut that
00:55because like I said in my speech, we never talk about it's a Hollywood film, it's a US film made
01:01in the US, it's a British film, that's it. We don't differentiate. You have people in DC, you
01:06have people in New York, you have people in LA or SF who are making different kinds of films,
01:10even in Boston. But we don't Boston-wood or New York-wood or Hollywood or DC-wood like they say
01:17Hollywood. Taking a cue from what you just said, India is at Cannes, India is at the Golden Globes,
01:24we've won the Oscar. What would it take to sort of scale Indian cinema up on the global scene?
01:31Why we do not appreciate commercial cinema makers? You have fantastic technicians in commercial
01:37cinema. It takes a lot for a hero to be the hero, to be seen as the hero who fights, who sings,
01:43who dances, who protects his family, protects the entire village, protects the entire nation.
01:50It takes a lot of pain to play that kind of a role or a woman, the female actor who has to
01:56look her best. There's so much of hard work goes into this. So I think we need to look beyond that.
02:01And you know, like Nata Nata winning Oscar, it was from an absolute commercial cinema. It was not
02:09a very hard-hitting documentary or it wasn't a hard-hitting realistic cinema what you
02:15see. So that was, you know, probably a ray of hope for me.
02:19You know, you've worked in films, you're an actor, you've been an actor. Is there something which is
02:24different in working with the directors from the South, with the, you know, commercial directors
02:30from the South versus in the North? Is there a different kind of filmmaking?
02:35I think people in South are a little ahead of times, the kind of films they make and whether
02:42it was Kantara, whether it was KGF, whether it was Pushpa, whether it was Triple R or you talk
02:47about Bahubali or you talk about Pundi and Sylvan or even you talk about a very, very action-oriented
02:52film like Vikram, Mr. Kamal Haasan's film. I think you need to see that somewhere down the line,
02:57I always insist that we Indians are deeply rooted to a tradition and culture. And every film you
03:02see, there is a touch, there is a connection with at the ground level with our culture and tradition.
03:09It was very courageous of you to share your own story, you know, about your music
03:14partner. You came out and you put it out in the public. I wanted to ask you, what is your message
03:19to young people, young women, young girls and boys out there who are probably going through,
03:27you know, a similar thing? I think they have to speak up. I was very late. I was very,
03:33very late. I had the courage to speak about it now. But then probably I had, you know,
03:39everybody goes through it. You have your own issues, you have your own family, you have
03:44your image, you don't want people to know what you went through. And I want in today's times,
03:49there are people who are ready to listen to you. There were times when we used to be absolutely
03:54judgmental, but we have seen a different section of people who are also open-minded.
04:00Yes, you have your social platforms where you will be trolled, you will be called names,
04:05they will find fault. The easiest way that you do is whenever there's a victim, they said,
04:09what did you do to provoke the man? And I think that needs to stop. People need to be a little
04:15more sensitive. And I want children who have been through this or anybody for that matter,
04:20at any age, when they go through this kind of abuse, I want them to speak up. You cannot stay
04:24silent because you're not only hurting yourself, but you're protecting the person who has done
04:33this to you. And you are also allowing him to have a platform to abuse others because he will be
04:41under an impression that he or she will get an impression that nobody speaks about you because
04:47they are ashamed of what happened to them. So I can continue abusing. And I say what we go through
04:53as victims, we don't have to be ashamed. We have to speak about the person and shame him.
04:59And how did you get sort of the courage to come out and share this?
05:03It has been there for many, many years. And I found that because I was addressing a lot of
05:08young children who were like in their 10th and 12th grade children, 16 to 18 years old,
05:12who are at the threshold of getting into this new life of how to be an entrepreneur, how to
05:16do something with their lives and what would they want to be in the future. And I'm sure that in
05:21that auditorium, there were many children who have been through this kind of abuse and they
05:25keep quiet. So I have two girls. So I have spoken to my daughters about my opinions and I have
05:31always been open to them that it's not fine for a man to come and touch you when you say no.
05:37And I've told them that nobody's allowed to even pinch your cheeks because I consider even that
05:43as an abuse. So right from the school days, I would say that if somebody comes and pinches
05:47your cheek, they say, don't touch me. Speak to me. If you find me cute, tell me in words,
05:51don't touch me. So this is kind of, you know, bringing up what I have given to my children.
05:57And when I spoke to my girls about my abuse, they were very supportive and they said, Amma,
06:02we stand with you. And of course, my husband, he knew about it. So it was there. And like I said,
06:09it is, you know, it's a scar which remains with you. The wounds heal, but then the scar heals.
06:17And the scar will go with me to my grave. But then I wanted to tell the children that it's okay.
06:23You don't have to be ashamed of what happened to you. Come out and speak. And it just happened.
06:27Making the world a safer place for young people, taking that threat forward. You're the member of
06:33NCW. And I wanted to ask you this, you know, what are some of the measures? Let me rephrase
06:40that. I want to ask you this. Do you think women's safety has ceased to be a political issue? And if
06:47you do agree with that, why? The reason why I'm asking you that is because everybody knows that
06:52we need to make India safer for women. But, and half our population is women. Half of them are
06:58voters. But we don't find that echo in manifestos, in what political parties usually speak about.
07:05So I wanted to ask you this as a member of NCW. What do you think about that?
07:11When we talk about women empowerment, I think nobody in the world had ever thought
07:15that it's not only in India, even different parts of the world. Globally, we have seen that
07:19women without toilets, they used to find it so difficult. And here, nobody could ever think of,
07:25but Prime Minister came up with Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. And with this mission, he made sure that
07:30there were 11 crores of toilets, which were built across the country, where women need not wake up
07:36at three in the morning and go to the jungle to relieve themselves. And in fact, today, it's,
07:41you know, it makes me feel so proud that girls, when they talk about marriage is the first thing
07:47they ask even in the village. Is there a bathroom? Is there a toilet? If not, don't get married.
07:52So, you know, first make a toilet. So I think, you know, women also realizing that dignity is important.
07:57My last question is on the Kerala story. You know, we've had West Bengal state government ban it.
08:04And obviously, we've seen a bit of divide on, you know, on showcasing the movie or not.
08:08I wanted to ask you, how do you see this?
08:12See, once a film is certified, I think you shouldn't, nobody has a right to stop the
08:17release of a film, once a movie is certified, because that's the highest order.
08:21You have grievances, you file a complaint. You don't ban a film. And as far as Kerala stories
08:26comes over, any film which comes, you know, is spoken about and to be banned, I think it just
08:31gives them the publicity. You see the kind of people and people who are on Twitter who talk
08:34about it. They are the people who have gone and seen the film. Let me tell you, most of them,
08:39they are neither the voters, they are neither the people who go and actually watch the film.
08:44So they want to be part of that group to be seen and heard. So they give their opinion. That's it.
08:51But the film has done extremely well. And the same thing we saw even with Kashmir Files.
08:56The film has done extremely well. So people want to see what is happening. Why is it that people
09:01are calling for a ban? If the film is not good, people are not going to watch it. And it's not
09:06about reality. It's not about the brutality. I think what is important is if people are connected.
09:11Any person who goes and watches a film, he's not going to say, OK, this happens or this does not
09:15happen. Probably this happens. And if this happens, it's not right. We need to stop this somewhere.
09:21And with that mindset, people go and watch. The real moviegoers are definitely not judgmental
09:28minded people where they go and say that, OK, this is what happens. Thank you so much for
09:32talking to me. Thank you.