In light of the recent allegations by Sudani from Nigeria actor Samuel Robinson with regard to his unfair compensation -- which he attributed to racial discrimination on the part of the producers (which was later revealed to be not the case) -- Cinema Express decided to talk to two prominent Malayalam directors, Lijo Jose Pellissery and Ganesh Raj, who had recently worked with a mostly newbie cast in their hit films Angamaly Diaries and Aanandam, respectively.

Though Lijo Jose claimed to not know the complete picture, he was kind enough to share his perspective on the matter. According to him, "Remuneration decisions taken by the producers of a film, especially when casting newbies, are most of the time fair. We take all the care to provide a comfortable atmosphere for them and ensure that they get all the help they can from us. If they are immensely talented, they deserve all the support, encouragement, and, most importantly, the exposure. We are providing them with an opportunity to bloom."

And this is what Ganesh had to say: "I'm pretty sure this is the result of some misunderstanding and immaturity on the part of the actor. Someone close to Samuel must have mislead him. I have gone through his Facebook statements and I've seen the figures; the amount paid to him, in my view, was not just fair, it was more than fair. He seems to have no understanding of how the Malayalam industry works. When we work with fresh faces, we work as a family and give them whatever they deserve. If an actor agreed to take a certain amount during the decision process, then what is the issue? He should have made his disagreement clear with the producers in the beginning itself. All this is so pointless."