Dragon director Ashwath Marimuthu breaks silence after being questioned for hiring no female assistant director: 'All I can promise is...'

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."

Ashwath, while announcing a recruitment drive for assistant directors on his social media in March, 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. The director had received 15,000 resumes in response to his viral post.

Hello ! My team and i dint 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 9 that i have taken in my team don’t have any personal connection with me or anyone that i know ! No… https://t.co/ariIDJBCvP

— Ashwath Marimuthu (@Dir_Ashwath) May 11, 2025

The filmmaker made his directorial debut with the critically-acclaimed romantic fantasy comedy Oh My Kadavule in 2020. He remade it in Telugu as Ori Devuda in 2022. His latest release Dragon, which hit theatres in February 2025, grossed Rs 150 crore worldwide and is the second highest-grossing Tamil film of 2025, as of now.

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