Regena Cassandrra said debates around Telugu cinema risk widening a North-South divide.
She also shared her own experience during Kesari 2 promotions
She alleged Dharma Productions did not acknowledge or tag her in posts for Kesari 2 despite her role as Akshay Kumar’s wife in the film.
Actor Regena Cassandrra has criticised the way debates around Janhvi Kapoor's Peddi remarks and Radhika Apte's comments on Telugu cinema are being framed, saying that those remarks can deepen a North-South divide in the film industry. She also alleged that Dharma Productions ignored her during the promotion of Kesari 2.
What Regena Cassandrra said about Janhvi Kapoor's remarks on Peddi controversy
In an interview with India Today, Regena said actors who are uncomfortable with how a film presents them should leave the project if they can. She was reacting to Janhvi's account of feeling objectified in Peddi and to Apte's recalling an unsettling experience in a Telugu film.
She said, "I feel like at the end of the day, if they feel uncomfortable, please walk out of the film. I don’t think we should be put in a place where we say we didn’t have a choice. This is not against a man or a woman. As a woman, it is very easy for me to take sides, I will obviously take the side of the woman, but I don’t think any of us today, especially the examples that you gave, I don’t think either of them are in a place where they can't walk out a film, especially being who they are."
About Janhvi Kapoor Peddi row
On Koffee With Karan Season 9, Janhvi said she could have been more alert on the Peddi set and accepted that her portrayal was wrong. She said, "I don’t like saying this because it sounds like I am shifting blame but it’s like you listen to the director and what he says. I was navigating how to make things less problematic as and when information was becoming available to me. In the south, very rarely there is a bound script. Very rarely do you see the camera angles. I should have taken advantage of my privilege. It was a violating experience in a way."
Regena on Kesari 2 promotion snub
Regena also linked that wider debate to her own experience during the promotions of Kesari 2. She said Dharma Productions did not properly acknowledge her while promoting the film, though she played Akshay Kumar's on-screen wife.
The actor said she has a big issue with when a North Indian actor talks about South Indian cinema because, with that, she feels they are creating a "North-South divide" without even realising it. She called it "absolutely wrong", adding, "Janhvi has spoken about being objectified on Karan Johar's show, the same Karan's Dharma Productions decided not to promote me in their film Kesari 2. Now, what am I supposed to call that? Objectifying what? That I'm a South-Indian? Till date, I do not even know why they didn't. It is very strange. They shared Kesari 2's song on Instagram and I am featuring in that song from start to finish, but they didn't even tag me."
On the work front, Regena's new Tamil supernatural comedy-drama Mookuthi Amman 2, directed by Sundar C, is releasing on November 6. She plays an important part in the Nayanthara-led film.
