Actress Suhasini Mani Ratnam recently captivated audiences with her compelling portrayal in Sony LIV's Malayalam series 'Jai Mahendran' as Tahsildar Shobha. 

In an exclusive interview with Mathrubhumi English, veteran actor-director Suhasini Mani Ratnam sheds light on the evolving dynamics of Tamil cinema, where A-listers like Kamal Haasan and Rajinikanth are increasingly collaborating with young and debutant directors.

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“In the Tamil film industry, the well-established directors are not really given a red carpet. No! It’s only the new directors who are given a red carpet. Whether it is Kamal Haasan, Rajinikanth, Vijay, or Ajith Kumar, they only want to work with newcomers. They don’t want to work with directors they have been working with for the past 10 years or five years, or even 20 years," she said.

Suhasini also stressed how easy it has become for debutant filmmakers to bag their first project, while also mentioning the real challenge that awaits them. She said, “I don’t think today it is difficult for a new director to make a film. But for a new director to make a second or a third film, it might be difficult. An established director will have a second or a third film, but for a new director the second and third films are difficult.”

Despite that, Suhasini highlighted that although a lot of debutant filmmakers are getting good opportunities because of the OTT, the “real bosses of OTT” still want bigger names to come on board.

“I have been part of OTT platforms wherein I have directed anthologies with other directors. They are always looking at names. The actual OTT bosses are looking at names. They want Karan Johar, Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Mani Ratnam and Priyadarshan to make OTT films because they want the big names to come. That is when the big stars will also come. That commercial approach is still there in OTT,” she said.

The ‘Sindhu Bhairavi’ actor, who made her acting debut in the early 1980s, went on to add: “Having said that, today the whole film industry and the creative platforms such as the advertisement films or television, or OTT, if the director is young then the producers are also very happy. During the 80s, in my time, you were scared of young directors because would they know how to finish the film? Will he know how to shoot a scene? Will he have a problem with the actors? All those are gone now from society. They have started trusting young people.”