'Mission Mangal' actress Nithya Menen slams hierarchy in Indian cinema: 'Give people credit where they deserve'

Celebrated South Indian actress Nithya Menon is one of the few actors who is comfortable in all four languages – Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, and Kannada. Critically acclaimed, she has a flourishing career, with a wide range of unconventional roles in her filmography.

In an interview, she spoke about hierarchy in Indian cinema and said, “When I saw Nithya’s name first, that means, it’s healing something in people’s consciousness. Maybe the injustice they had to go through or times they felt inferior, it gets healed a little bit. I consider things like this path breaking, and not just Kiru or me, but Ravi is also a part of that. Because he said, go ahead, do it.”

She added, “There’s a clear cut hierarchy, right? Hero, director, heroine - hierarchy. That’s how it is. That’s how your caravans are placed, that’s how you’re called on stage. If an aarti is taken that’s the order they’ll give it to you. It’s not even the order the people are standing. It bothers me, all of this is like…really? You want to live a life like this? This is so small minded, just be normal. Be natural. Give people credit where they deserve, whether they’re a woman or man.”

Nithya Menen had no plans of becoming an actress, but director Nandini Reddy convinced her to get in front of the camera rather than behind. Today with over 35 films to her credit, Menen, 27, is being hailed as one of the best actresses in the south.