Tanuja Chandra says representation of women important in films: ‘Today producers want to make female-led stories’

Talking about why she takes long breaks between projects, Tanuja Chandra said, “I have to say that people forget that a series is actually like three films. For directors, or at least for me, each project is a good two years. I don’t know how others simultaneously do several projects. I don’t. I commit myself fully to one, and that’s it for me. This is my first series, so it was genuinely much longer than a movie.”

Calling this a great time to tell women’s stories, Tanuja added, “Also, earlier on, it wasn’t easy to get funding for a female-led story. So, I think now that’s happening. Today producers want to make female-led stories. So, it is a great time.”

The filmmaker then opened up about how she’s always made films with strong female characters. She said, “This is what I’ve been doing right from the start of my career. It is not an agenda. It is something that I love to do. These are the stories I want to tell. Since representation matters, it makes a huge difference when we take up stories about women because it is an untapped treasure of storytelling which, for centuries, has never been considered important. Therefore, it is fresh and new and there is a need being felt for these stories to be told.”

While Tanuja Chandra said it is a great time because more women are at the forefront when it comes to working in films, she also said it is not enough and that more needs to be done in this regard. She said, “After so many years, I can say that the time has come when we can do this without hesitation. I used to hesitate at the start of my career because we always had to have a male hero along with the heroine. In those days, we would have a small budget. Now it’s not like that so I am excited and there is more and more to do for me. It has become more of a passion than it was, so I’ll grow into that direction more than I ever have. I think the popularity of such stories will only grow more and more. I think you tell people good stories, they like it, and then you tell them some more, and that’s how it all goes.”

“But I have to say that there is a long way to go. Until half the stories are female driven, or have female directors. Until we have equal number of female writers as men, I don’t think it is an equal playing field. We still have a long time to go,” the director concluded.

Hush Hush will stream on Amazon prime Video from September 22.