View From The Top

In her first significant interview in a decade, Nayanthara, Tamil cinema’s most reserved actor, gets unfiltered and unguarded as never before.

- Nandini Ramnath

There she is, in the middle of the frame, surrounded by men who listen and obey as she takes the decisions, gives the orders, and generally runs the show. Nayanthara, one of southern cinema’s brightest stars, is channelling her wattage in ways that are changing the movies. In many of her recent films in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam, she is at the top of the cast and the centre of the narrative. Off-screen too, Nayanthara has assumed control of her persona—rarely giving interviews, carefully styling herself, and reacting to controversies only when she needs to. “I am always busy and shooting all the time,” she tells me, “I am a workaholic.”

This is something of an understatement. Nayanthara appeared alongside Nivin Pauly in the Malayalam movie Love Action Drama last month. This month, she’ll be in the multilingual Sye Raa Narasimha Reddy, then work on the Rajinikanth-starrer Darbar, and the Vijay-led Bigil. Previously, the actor has headlined women-centric films like Aramm (2017) and Kolamavu Kokila (2018), where there is no hero in sight. “For my solo films, I decide everything,” she reveals. “Sometimes, directors do come up with sub-plots revolving around husbands or boyfriends. I ask whether it is necessary.”

THE FUTURE IS FEMALE

None of this should matter in 2019, but it still does in Indian cinema, which remains largely steered by men and revolves around their heroics. In the Tamil and Telugu industries, where Nayanthara’s reach is strongest, she has deployed her box-office power to get scripts that are written for her and production schedules that are carved around her availability. By extension, she’s got audiences used to seeing a woman in charge, which will only benefit other actresses down the line.