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Although Suma Jayaram is a name familiar to Malayalam audiences, having appeared in several beloved films, her career never truly took off owing to the lack of substantial characters. Despite notable roles in movies such as Mammootty’s Kuttettan and Mazhayethum Munpe, Mohanlal’s His Highness Abdullah, Amala Akkineni and Srividya’s Ente Sooryaputhrikku, Suresh Gopi’s Ekalavyan, and director Sibi Malayil’s Ishtam, she never received opportunities to portray central characters or ones that made significant contributions to narratives.
In a recent interview, Suma revealed that back in the ’90s, female actors often lost out on opportunities if they weren’t willing to make “compromises” (a term widely used to imply sexual favours). She also shared how her roles were often slashed or reassigned without proper communication. Suma mentioned that this happened even in films directed by industry veterans. Speaking to Milestone Makers, she said, “When the scenes became lengthy, they would get cut down. So, what I acted in would finally be reduced to just two scenes. That’s how I ended up being limited to small characters.”
Revealing that she was the initial choice for playing the sister of the characters depicted by Mohanlal and Nedumudi Venu in Sibi Malayil’s Bharatham (1991), she said, ” I stayed there for four days. After Padmarajan (ace filmmaker) passed away, I was told to return home. A week later, I saw in Nana magazine that Suchitra Murali was doing that role.” Sharing a similar experience while working in director Fazil’s Ente Sooryaputhrikku (1991), Suma said, “I went to play Amala’s sister, but by the time I reached the location, someone else had already been cast. I was shifted to a friend’s role instead. The sister’s role was played by a girl who came from Tamil Nadu.”
Revealing how unsafe the industry was for women at one point, she shared, “It wasn’t like today back then. Now there’s #MeToo and all that, and the industry has changed a lot. But in those days, it wasn’t like that. You had to make a lot of sacrifices. If you didn’t compromise, you would lose opportunities. No one would speak out because everyone had families. Even today, those who speak up lose opportunities.”
She further recalled a chilling experience she faced as a minor when a “prominent director” showed up at her door late at night, completely drunk. “I once went to act in a film by a very prominent director. My mother came along with me. The shoot was scheduled for a week. After wrapping up the morning’s shoot, I returned to my room in the evening. Around 10 pm, that famous director came to my room and started knocking on the balcony door. When we looked through the window, we saw that it was him, fully drunk. I was around 16 or 17 years old then, and I was terrified. After knocking for a while, the director eventually left. The next day at the shooting location, however, we heard him shouting abuses. It’s such experiences that make people stay silent,” she said.
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