Kollywood's women power

While Tamil cinema perhaps has the largest number of women directors in the country, rarely do you come across women producers.
Those who are there have just lent their name for various other reasons. Mano Akkineni, granddaughter of late legendary producer and director L V Prasad, has floated a new banner and has released her first film (Drohi) this Friday.Mano is a hands-on producer who took part in the actual shoot and day-to-day production work of the film and finally marketed it.
Earlier, there were actresses, like Radhika Sarath Kumar and Khushbu, who turned producers and made commercially-viable films. Says Khushbu, ���������I set up a production house to make commercially-viable films and broke the existing myth in the industry that actresses who turn producers cannot make successful films. Today, women from different backgrounds are turning producers and are doing a good job.���������
Says Mano, ���������Drohi is the title of my grandfather���������s film that released in 1948. I wanted the same title for my debut film as producer. I���������m passionate about films. I���������ve worked with Santosh Sivan as an assistant and also helped my brothers Ravishankar Prasad and Manohar Prasad, leading producers, in their productions.��������� As a woman producer, Mano says, she wanted to make ���������commercially-viable action film unlike other women producers who normally go for candyfloss or offbeat themes.��������� ���������The bottom line is that like any other producer, I���������ve made the film taking loans from financiers. I���������m targetting only the box-office.���������
Mano has a point as Kollywood trade believes that women directors can only make soft love stories and have no clue about the commercial viability of a film. US-return Jaya Kalyana, an executive producer who is getting the feel of Kollywood, says, ���������We want to show that women can bring out an action film that will please mass audiences. In a way, we have crossed the frontier. Next year, I will be producing a film and probably directing it too.���������
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