Priyamani Objects To ‘Pan-India’ Actors Tag For Kamal Haasan, Rajinikanth

Priyamani is basking in the success of her recent film Maidaan. The actress, who predominantly works in regional language movies, has recently pivoted to Bollywood. During the promotional interview, the actress asserted that she does not understand the importance of recognising actors from the language of their movies and advocated for everyone to be called ‘Indian' actors instead. 

Enough is enough: Priyamani on the label ‘pan-India’ actors

In an interview with DNA, ahead of the release of Maidaan, Priyamani advocated for the label ‘Indian’ actors to replace the prevalent term ‘pan-Indian’ actors. The actress shared that it must have been okay to use ‘pan-Indian actor’ initially, but it is high time to undo it. She shared, “Initially aacha laga hoga sunne mein, but it's high time we should start calling Indian actors. At the end of the day, we all are Indian actors. I don't know who coined the term 'pan-India.”   

She added that even though everyone is ‘segregated’ by their respective language, everyone is blurring boundaries and is working in all industries. She said, “Yes, we have been segregated by our respective languages. Even though our films have been dubbed, but we were known by our language. I think we should all call Indian actors and technicians. Enough is enough.” 

Priyamani compares contemporaries actors with Sridevi, Rajinikanth, Kamal Haasan 

In the same conversation, the actress who has appeared in several Bollywood movies like Jawan, Article 370 and now Maidaan, gave examples of several veteran stars who worked across industries. She said, “At that time no body was called pan-India star, be it Sridevi ma'am,  or Jaya Prada ma'am, Rekha ji. They created a mark for themselves in Bollywood. Rajini (Rajinikanth) sir, Kamal (Hassan) sir have done so many films here. They were never called pan-Indian actors at that time. Why are we called pan-India actors?” She argued that everyone needs to be just called ‘actors’.