Malayalam star Kani Kusruti: Actors should be given equal opportunities(Pic credit: Facebook/Kani Kusruti)
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Malayalam actress Kani Kusruti wants a system in place that lets artistes get equal opportunities, irrespective of caste, class or skin colour.
Kani was recently awarded Best Actress in the BRICS competition category at the 42nd Moscow Film Festival, and she dedicated her win to Malayalam cinema’s first-ever heroine, PK Rosy.
“I dedicate this award to PK Rosy, the first heroine of Malayalam cinema and also the first Dalit actress in Indian cinema. Her house was burnt down for her crime of playing the part of an upper-caste person and she was forced to flee for her life.
“I see a lot of amazing actors not being offered characters they could have been amazing at, just because of gaps in the current talent-representation infrastructure. I share this award with all of them and hope that together, we will soon create a new culture of motion picture excellence that will provide equal opportunities to all actors, irrespective of their caste, class or skin colour,” Kani Kusruti told IANS.
The young artist, Kani Kusruti, was awarded for her role in “Biriyaani”.
“I play a character called Khadeeja. She has been deprived of agency all her life — her social context has offered her very little freedom in matters of family, sex or religion. A set of tumultuous circumstances force her to take a journey of transformation in exile, where she invents her own rules of morality, avenging her suffering in a way as grotesque as the prejudice and hatred that caused it,” Kani added.
In other news, actress Kalki Koechlin has bagged a new Tamil film, titled Paava Kadhaigal.
The upcoming project is an anthology that also features Prakash Raj, Anjali, Bhavani Sre, Gautham Menon, Hari, Kalidas Jayaram, Padam Kumar, Sai Pallavi, Shanthnu Bhagyaraj and Simran, amongst others.
Gautham V Menon, Sudha Kongara, Vetri Maaran and Vignesh Shivan are associated with the project as directors.
“‘Paava Kadhaigal’ is my first collaboration with Sudha (Kongara), Vetri (Maaran), and Vignesh (Shivan). To explore a complex, difficult theme in an authentic and honest manner alongside incredibly talented directors is a tremendous opportunity. The anthology reflects how pride, honour and social standing continue to influence individual choices all around us,” Gautham Menon said.
According to Sudha Kongara, “Each story in this anthology explores unconventional, unfettered, and unconditional love. It’s great that these incredible stories will reach viewers in India and around the world with Netflix.”
