Actor Amala Paul has lashed out at the producers of Vijay Sethupathi’s next film, tentatively titled #VSP33, Chandaraa Arts, for removing her from the film citing that she was not “production-friendly”.
The actor took to Twitter late on Wednesday to release a statement using the hashtag #TheTruth to address speculations that she had dropped out of the film citing date issues. “I am writing out of my great disappointment, as I have been thrown out of an ongoing movie,” the statement read. It is speculated that the producers have roped in actor Megha Akash as her replacement in the film.
Amala, whose upcoming film Aadai trended globally recently , and whose teaser garnered over five million views, countered the production house’s claims that she was not production-friendly, stating, “This accusation has never been laid upon me during my decade-long career by any of my colleagues.”
The actor added that she is in Mumbai, purchasing clothes and working on the styling for VSP33, when she received a message from the producer Rathienavelu Kumar of Chandaraa Arts. The actor claims that in the message, Kumar wrote that he doesn’t want her in the film as he couldn’t meet her demands and terms. Amala added that she believes the producer was referring to her demand of an accomodation in Ooty, where the makers were planning to shoot the film. “Anyhow, he never bothered to call me before making his conclusions and hastily decided to throw me out of an ongoing project,” she wrote in her statement.
Amala goes on to add that this “brouhaha” does not make sense to her, and claims that the decision could have come in the backdrop of the release of her ‘Aadai’ teaser. “It’s just a patriarchical, egoistic, traditional mindset of Chandaraa Arts Production that this is happening right after the release of Aadai teaser and my image is being sabotaged with multiple baseless rumours that are mischievously being floated around in the industry. Tamil Nadu deserves good cinema and that will only happen when this large set of traditional, patriarchical production houses change their mindset,” she says.
The actor expressed her disappointment, and referring to the production house as “pseudo cinema punters”, accused them of writing off an “actor’s emotional investment” as though it means nothing. “Don’t even get me started on the physical and financial efforts that are put in by an actor right from the word go,” she adds.
However, she chose to exclude actor Vijay Sethupathi from her scathing criticism in a post script to the statement. “No harm is intended to you Vijay Sethupathi. I am a huge fan and I was excitedly looking forward to be working with you. This is a statement written out of my grave disappointment and to address the rumours that are being spread around by Chandaraa Productions about my unprofessional conduct,” her statement concludes.
