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The director didn't even speak to me- Nayantara
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Days have passed since Nayantara-'Janmam' controversy happened, but the actress is still reeling under the negative publicity that she ended up with.
And, after a very long gap, Nayantara was interacting with the Malayalam media. This was our opportunity to clarify with her on the events that happened on the sets of the Suresh Gopi starrer.
"They made it very clear that they just wanted me to make a guest appearance in the film. I had nothing to do with the rest of the characters or even the story. I was simply to play the role of Nayantara, the actress. I was okay with all these terms and that was why I had accepted the offer.
"But when I reached Pollachi, the associate directors began telling me the story and started explaining my role! I didn't come there to play a role. Had they told me before that they wanted me to play a small role, I probably would never have accepted that offer. They had promised me one thing but when I reached there, they had something entirely different, I couldn't accept that and that was the reason why I decided to not work in it," Nayantara began.
Did they tell you that you'll have to do a guest role for three days?
They told me no such thing. All they told me was that I'll have to make a guest appearance in a song sequence. There's a different between guest role and guest appearance. When they told me that they wanted me to make a guest appearance, I thought it will be like the one I did in the Tamil film 'Sivakasi'. In the film, I appeared as Nayantara the actress and it was for a song sequence. It was not an item number. When I came to Pollachi, I thought I'll be doing a similar work in this film too. It had been a long time now since I had acted in any Malayalam film and this was director Joshi's film and that was the only reason why I had accepted the offer.
But don't you think it would have been better for you if you had played an important role than just appearing as an item number artiste?
I don't understand how my role was going to be important? Gopika was the heroine. And she is doing something entirely different. How will my role be more important than hers? Moreover, I'm not sitting at home without work. I had to make special requests to my filmmakers in Tamil and Telugu to get my callsheets freed for this film. They had asked me to appear for a song sequence. If my role was very, very important, don't you think they'd have made me the heroine?
Okay, who had contacted you first about the role?
It was producer Vindhyan who had got in touch with me first. I had worked with him already in a film and I thought that since he is known to me, the response would be good.
When you came to Pollachi, who had explained the character to you?
It was SN Swamy who had explained my role to me. Joshi was not on the sets. He didn't speak to me either in person or atleast over the phone. I didn't like what I heard and I told them that I'm going back. I knew that there will be terrible repercussions but I was ready to face it. They threatened that they'd file a complaint with the producer's council and get me banned. I told them to do whatever they felt like doing because I firmly believed that I was right in whatever I did. If you could find faults with what I did, I'm ready to offer unconditional apologies to you. They didn't bother to sign any return agreements with me. That's their fault. What's the proof that they even approached me for the role?
One day, I received a letter from Chennai's Film Producers' Council. They wanted me to offer an explanation on that incident. The very next day, I gave them a lengthy written explanation on what had really happened. I didn't stop at it. I filed a complaint against 'Janmam's crew. So, if they want to take further actions against me, they'll have to proceed against the Nadigar Sangam.
But, there are gossips that you had left the location without even bothering to speak to director Joshi. They add that you weren't even interested in speaking to him. Is that true?
The truth is- director Joshi wasn't interested in speaking to me. But if you ask him, he'd probably say that he never interacts with his stars. He was not the one who had contacted me with the offer. He didn't even speak to me about what I was supposed to do. His production executives do all that work. I had reached Pollachi at afternoon, the previous day. I wanted to meet him and greet him. But I was told that he was busy. Then they told me that he was about 25 KM away from Pollachi. I told them that I wouldn't mind going in a car and meeting him. They called him up over the phone and then told me that he feels that I can meet him the next day at the shooting. When problems began the next day, the director didn't even call me over the phone to ask what was happening. However big a star is, when it comes to films, he/she has to listen to the director because the film is his baby. I wanted to speak to him about the role and convey my greetings. But he didn't even find time to return my calls or ask me what went wrong the next day.
Until now, he hasn't spoken a word to me. Who was I supposed to trust- the director or the production assistant?
The next day, when I informed the assistants that I was leaving for Chennai, they immediately told me that they were only going to shoot the song sequence. Suddenly, my "role" had disappeared. Had they told me this the previous night, I might have changed my mind and stayed. But I started having doubts about it. They didn't have any plans. Nobody was accountable.
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- 14.10.2006
