Parvathy Thiruvothu exposes lack of support for women on film sets, recounts uncomfortable ‘Maryan’ water shoot experience

Parvathy Thiruvothu

Veteran actor Parvathy Thiruvothu has once again drawn attention to the practical hardships and gender imbalances on Indian film sets with a candid reflection on her experience during the shooting of the 2013 Tamil film Maryan. In a recent interview, she recounted a particularly difficult day of filming a water sequence, where she found herself struggling with basic needs in a male-dominated production environment.

“The first day of the shoot was me getting completely drenched in water and being romanced by the hero. And they were pouring water on me. I haven't carried any change. I don’t have an entourage of people taking care of me or anything, and at one point, I had to go and tell him that ‘listen, I need to go back to the hotel, change and come’. But they were like ‘No, no, we don't have time’ and I had to loudly tell them that I am on my period and I have to. And they had no idea how to respond to that,” the Wonder Women actress recounted. Maryan was directed by Bharat Bala.

Parvathy pointed out that on that shoot, there were only three women present among a large contingent of male crew members, underscoring the lack of female representation and support structures on many film sets. “Most of the Malayalam films have very few women on set. So I am very happy when I see more women on sets,” said the actress.

Maryan is a 2013 Tamil film, which stars Dhanush and Parvathy Thiruvothu, set in a coastal village.

Actress Parvathy Thiruvothu's upcoming Malayalam films include I, Nobody with actor Prithviraj Sukumaran and Pradhama Dhrishtya Kuttakkar. She will also be seen in a Hindi series Storm.