I don't blame the industry: Amala Paul on sexualisation of women in South cinema

At the India Today South Conclave 2026, Amala Paul said objectionable portrayals of women cannot be blamed entirely on the film industry. She also said female-led films and women claiming more space show that change has begun.Amala Paul says women's portrayal issue goes beyond film industry blame. (Credit: India Today)New Delhi,Sep 29, 2026 19:39 ISTActor Amala Paul said the sexualisation of women in South cinema cannot be blamed entirely on the film industry, saying the problem can also lie with an individual film or a director’s vision. Speaking at the India Today South Conclave 2026 on Tuesday in Kochi, she said the rise of female-led films and the growing presence of women within the industry point to a shift that is already under way.Her remarks came amid renewed debate over the portrayal of women in South Indian cinema, with recent films such as Peddi, Toxic and The Paradise facing backlash over the alleged hypersexualisation and objectification of their female characters. Amala said women in the industry are already working towards greater space and representation, and described the current phase as the beginning of change.Asked whether the portrayal of women in an objectionable manner was an industry-wide issue or specific to individual films, Amala said she did not want to place the blame entirely on the industry.“I don't want to blame it on the industry entirely because from each industry, we can really see good female-led films coming out. It could be movie issue or the director's vision,” she said. When asked whether women also have a role to play in steering the industry towards change, Amala said female actors are already pushing for greater space and representation.“We are doing our best (laughing). I certainly see there is. I have been in the industry for more than 15 years. Right now, there is a great momentum and a lot of women are taking up the space that they need to own in the industry. This is the beginning of that change,” she said.Scripts, risks and breaking patterns At the conclave, Amala also spoke about her approach to scripts, the need to break stereotypes and why she has never been interested in repeating herself. Over the course of her career, from Mynaa to her later choices, she said she has been drawn to unfamiliar parts rather than to staying within a fixed image.One of the clearest examples of that approach, she said, was Aadai, the 2019 Tamil film in which she played a woman trapped in an abandoned building and forced into an extremely vulnerable situation. The role required her to appear nude for most of the film, making it a risky choice at a time when an actor’s image and audience perception often influence such decisions.For Amala, the challenge was not only about what the role demanded physically. She said she wanted to be sure the film was being approached as cinema and not with nudity as its central selling point.Amala said taking on a role like Aadai also brought with it a separate fear: that doing something drastically different could itself create a new kind of typecasting. Looking back, she said she now sees that decision as one made by a younger version of herself who was willing to take a leap without knowing where it would lead. She also said she does not think she would make the same choice now.For Amala, the sense that Aadai was worth the risk came not only at the time of its release, but later, as the film continued to be discussed as an example of an actor taking a gamble at a particular stage of her career.- Ends