Women can do it says Shanti

Shanti is an associate director and it’s nice to see a woman work in a male-dominated industry. “Hey, don’t give men too much importance by talking like that,” she says. A saree designer before she took to films all of a sudden. Ask her how it happened and she says, “Films are not my passion. I called Rasool one day and he gave me a chance to work. Most production people don’t employ women because of the irregular and odd timings and because if you are married and you have children you can’t concentrate. But things are changing don’t we have women working in BPOs? It wasn’t difficult, I could impress upon them.”

How was it working on the first day on the sets? “First day was kind of okay, but on the  second day I was damn tired. I did a lot of walking around and was totally fed up with the work. I wanted to stop working here. But slowly I realised that this is where I want to be and started putting my heart and soul in it. I loved working with Teja. I worked with him for three films and then I was associated with Krishna Vamsi’s movie. People still have that attitude..what is she doing in a director’s department?”

Shanti adds, “I never had any problems on the sets. If anyone makes some comment, I scold them. If you do your work properly no one bothers. It’s been five years since I’ve been here. I have a son and luckily for me my mother takes care of him.” Ask her what’s the nature of her work? “I write the censor script. Before the film releases, I have to describe the film on paper, dialogues, scenes, locations, etc. I get paid 15 thousand a month and sometimes I do translation of movie dialogues if the film is going for a national award. I did one.. for Pothe Poni. They pay me 10 thousand for that.”

Shanti says she has got used to the work now but what hurts her is when there is a break announced on the sets all men get together and chat and she is left on her own, without a friend or a conversation. Also producers never give a chance to women to direct. And that artistes are close to the men in the unit, the priority is for them. Any tough moment she had to face? “Yep, I worked for one associate director of a low budget movie. He was so frustrated and would show all his anger on me.”