The real talk with Kushboo Sundar

Brut India

"I think people in South are a little ahead of times." Actor and politician Khushboo Sundar discussed Indian cinema and recounted her battle with an abusive father in this chat with Brut at #Cannes2023.

Transcript

00:00Somebody comes and pinches your cheek, you say don't touch, speak to me, if you find me cute,

00:04tell me in words, don't touch. It's a scar which remains with you, the wounds heal,

00:09but then the scar will go with me to my grave.

00:16Thank you ma'am for talking to Brute India. I wanted to start first with the speech that

00:20you just gave at the India Pavilion during the inauguration. You spoke that we should look at

00:26Indian cinema as one, you know we speak of Tollywood, South, Bollywood and you sort of

00:31brought the whole room together. I think we have been accepted as Indian cinema within ourselves.

00:37I think it's only when it comes to the media, with all due respect to them, they find it a

00:42little difficult to say South Indian region and then say that it's a Tamil cinema versus South

00:46Indian film, Telugu cinema. They find it a little lengthy so they make it a short term, this is

00:51Bollywood, this is Tollywood, that is Tollywood and this is Bollywood. I think we need to cut that

00:55because like I said in my speech, we never talk about it's a Hollywood film, it's a US film made

01:01in the US, it's a British film, that's it. We don't differentiate. You have people in DC, you

01:06have people in New York, you have people in LA or SF who are making different kinds of films,

01:10even in Boston. But we don't Boston-wood or New York-wood or Hollywood or DC-wood like they say

01:17Hollywood. Taking a cue from what you just said, India is at Cannes, India is at the Golden Globes,

01:24we've won the Oscar. What would it take to sort of scale Indian cinema up on the global scene?

01:31Why we do not appreciate commercial cinema makers? You have fantastic technicians in commercial

01:37cinema. It takes a lot for a hero to be the hero, to be seen as the hero who fights, who sings,

01:43who dances, who protects his family, protects the entire village, protects the entire nation.

01:50It takes a lot of pain to play that kind of a role or a woman, the female actor who has to

01:56look her best. There's so much of hard work goes into this. So I think we need to look beyond that.

02:01And you know, like Nata Nata winning Oscar, it was from an absolute commercial cinema. It was not

02:09a very hard-hitting documentary or it wasn't a hard-hitting realistic cinema what you

02:15see. So that was, you know, probably a ray of hope for me.

02:19You know, you've worked in films, you're an actor, you've been an actor. Is there something which is

02:24different in working with the directors from the South, with the, you know, commercial directors

02:30from the South versus in the North? Is there a different kind of filmmaking?

02:35I think people in South are a little ahead of times, the kind of films they make and whether

02:42it was Kantara, whether it was KGF, whether it was Pushpa, whether it was Triple R or you talk

02:47about Bahubali or you talk about Pundi and Sylvan or even you talk about a very, very action-oriented

02:52film like Vikram, Mr. Kamal Haasan's film. I think you need to see that somewhere down the line,

02:57I always insist that we Indians are deeply rooted to a tradition and culture. And every film you

03:02see, there is a touch, there is a connection with at the ground level with our culture and tradition.

03:09It was very courageous of you to share your own story, you know, about your music

03:14partner. You came out and you put it out in the public. I wanted to ask you, what is your message

03:19to young people, young women, young girls and boys out there who are probably going through,

03:27you know, a similar thing? I think they have to speak up. I was very late. I was very,

03:33very late. I had the courage to speak about it now. But then probably I had, you know,

03:39everybody goes through it. You have your own issues, you have your own family, you have

03:44your image, you don't want people to know what you went through. And I want in today's times,

03:49there are people who are ready to listen to you. There were times when we used to be absolutely

03:54judgmental, but we have seen a different section of people who are also open-minded.

04:00Yes, you have your social platforms where you will be trolled, you will be called names,

04:05they will find fault. The easiest way that you do is whenever there's a victim, they said,

04:09what did you do to provoke the man? And I think that needs to stop. People need to be a little

04:15more sensitive. And I want children who have been through this or anybody for that matter,

04:20at any age, when they go through this kind of abuse, I want them to speak up. You cannot stay

04:24silent because you're not only hurting yourself, but you're protecting the person who has done

04:33this to you. And you are also allowing him to have a platform to abuse others because he will be

04:41under an impression that he or she will get an impression that nobody speaks about you because

04:47they are ashamed of what happened to them. So I can continue abusing. And I say what we go through

04:53as victims, we don't have to be ashamed. We have to speak about the person and shame him.

04:59And how did you get sort of the courage to come out and share this?

05:03It has been there for many, many years. And I found that because I was addressing a lot of

05:08young children who were like in their 10th and 12th grade children, 16 to 18 years old,

05:12who are at the threshold of getting into this new life of how to be an entrepreneur, how to

05:16do something with their lives and what would they want to be in the future. And I'm sure that in

05:21that auditorium, there were many children who have been through this kind of abuse and they

05:25keep quiet. So I have two girls. So I have spoken to my daughters about my opinions and I have

05:31always been open to them that it's not fine for a man to come and touch you when you say no.

05:37And I've told them that nobody's allowed to even pinch your cheeks because I consider even that

05:43as an abuse. So right from the school days, I would say that if somebody comes and pinches

05:47your cheek, they say, don't touch me. Speak to me. If you find me cute, tell me in words,

05:51don't touch me. So this is kind of, you know, bringing up what I have given to my children.

05:57And when I spoke to my girls about my abuse, they were very supportive and they said, Amma,

06:02we stand with you. And of course, my husband, he knew about it. So it was there. And like I said,

06:09it is, you know, it's a scar which remains with you. The wounds heal, but then the scar heals.

06:17And the scar will go with me to my grave. But then I wanted to tell the children that it's okay.

06:23You don't have to be ashamed of what happened to you. Come out and speak. And it just happened.

06:27Making the world a safer place for young people, taking that threat forward. You're the member of

06:33NCW. And I wanted to ask you this, you know, what are some of the measures? Let me rephrase

06:40that. I want to ask you this. Do you think women's safety has ceased to be a political issue? And if

06:47you do agree with that, why? The reason why I'm asking you that is because everybody knows that

06:52we need to make India safer for women. But, and half our population is women. Half of them are

06:58voters. But we don't find that echo in manifestos, in what political parties usually speak about.

07:05So I wanted to ask you this as a member of NCW. What do you think about that?

07:11When we talk about women empowerment, I think nobody in the world had ever thought

07:15that it's not only in India, even different parts of the world. Globally, we have seen that

07:19women without toilets, they used to find it so difficult. And here, nobody could ever think of,

07:25but Prime Minister came up with Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. And with this mission, he made sure that

07:30there were 11 crores of toilets, which were built across the country, where women need not wake up

07:36at three in the morning and go to the jungle to relieve themselves. And in fact, today, it's,

07:41you know, it makes me feel so proud that girls, when they talk about marriage is the first thing

07:47they ask even in the village. Is there a bathroom? Is there a toilet? If not, don't get married.

07:52So, you know, first make a toilet. So I think, you know, women also realizing that dignity is important.

07:57My last question is on the Kerala story. You know, we've had West Bengal state government ban it.

08:04And obviously, we've seen a bit of divide on, you know, on showcasing the movie or not.

08:08I wanted to ask you, how do you see this?

08:12See, once a film is certified, I think you shouldn't, nobody has a right to stop the

08:17release of a film, once a movie is certified, because that's the highest order.

08:21You have grievances, you file a complaint. You don't ban a film. And as far as Kerala stories

08:26comes over, any film which comes, you know, is spoken about and to be banned, I think it just

08:31gives them the publicity. You see the kind of people and people who are on Twitter who talk

08:34about it. They are the people who have gone and seen the film. Let me tell you, most of them,

08:39they are neither the voters, they are neither the people who go and actually watch the film.

08:44So they want to be part of that group to be seen and heard. So they give their opinion. That's it.

08:51But the film has done extremely well. And the same thing we saw even with Kashmir Files.

08:56The film has done extremely well. So people want to see what is happening. Why is it that people

09:01are calling for a ban? If the film is not good, people are not going to watch it. And it's not

09:06about reality. It's not about the brutality. I think what is important is if people are connected.

09:11Any person who goes and watches a film, he's not going to say, OK, this happens or this does not

09:15happen. Probably this happens. And if this happens, it's not right. We need to stop this somewhere.

09:21And with that mindset, people go and watch. The real moviegoers are definitely not judgmental

09:28minded people where they go and say that, OK, this is what happens. Thank you so much for

09:32talking to me. Thank you.

Category

Transcript

Recommended