Chennai, May 12 Director Ashwath Marimuthu, who recently released a list of all those who had been selected to be a part of the directorial team for his upcoming films #STR51 and #AGS27, has said that all nine members he had picked in his team didn't have any personal connection with him or with anyone he knew and that he had kept the process very clean.
On Sunday, the director took to his X timeline to list all those who had been picked to be his assistant directors. Putting out a poster on his timeline that read, "Team Ashwath Marimuthu. Welcome onboard assistant directors!" and named Srikanth, Mohammed Asif, Arun Kumar, Nithish S, Dhina, Nithish B, Krish, Srinath, Aniruth as his team members.
Along with the poster, he wrote, "To all the talented people who applied but couldn’t make it, wish u a great future and am sure you will find a better place to work."
However, an X user responded to the director's tweet, asking him, "Not a single woman in that list. Any reason you don’t hire women for the role of assistant director? @Dir_Ashwath."
Ashwath replied, "Hello ! My team and I didn't focus on man or woman ! We focused purely on who cleared all the rounds! Also there were only very few female applicants ! All I can promise is the nine that I have taken in my team don’t have any personal connection with me or anyone that I know ! No referral, nothing! I can happily say I have kept the process very clean! And hope you know how hard it is to avoid referrals from your closest ! Cheers ! Just wanted to clear !"
The director's reply received a lot of appreciation with several users on social media backing the director's decision.
One user, replying to Ashwath's explanation wrote, "When it comes to gender equality, people should be chosen on merit/talent, not on the basis of gender. End of the day, it’s his choice and his freedom, you can’t accuse a man for this. What kind of a society we are living in? No freedom for men."
Several other users too questioned the person who was looking to play the women card in this issue.
A women candidate, who had applied for the position but didn't qualify, too responded saying that the team was considerate and professional throughout and that she faced no discrimination.
It may be recalled that Ashwath Marimuthu, while calling for assistant directors, had announced that his production and he had always made sure that they pay the best for assistant directors based on their position and more importantly, that they pay them on time.
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