6th May 2023 Mumbai: Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari also applies same sensibility and zeal to the judgements she takes on the way she runs her sets as well as her cinema. The director-producer was one of the first to make it a requirement that women have access to adequate restrooms on her film sets. Typically, the team will use the restrooms and other amenities at restaurants or other public places when shooting a movie in a difficult or isolated location.
But Ashwiny broke down barriers when she insisted that women on her set be secure and comfortable, making sure there was always a one-door vanity for them to use the lavatory.
Commenting on the matter, Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari, “As a producer or director when I’m signing my agreements the one thing that I’m always fighting for is that you can cut your budgets wherever you want but you cannot cut a budget on a one-door vanity especially for women to use the loo. This is mandatory on all my shoots.”
The Panga director further added, “It is a problem because I remember when I would be on set we would find someone to take us to the closest restaurant and we would inform the restaurant that we would be using the loo all day. In a country like India, toilets are a big problem, especially for women. So it’s mandatory on my set so much so that now the vanity loo is fully equipped like a hotel bathroom with sanitiser, sanitary napkins, it has everything.”
-by Kashvi Gala