You could do a heavy duty analysis of what's wrong with mainstream Indian cinema, but here’s a quick lowdown on it: everybody is a member of everybody else’s fan club.In other words, everyone is busy praising everyone else, the praise more profound of its to do with legends, and its all one big happy – although mediocre – family. When this is the case, it makes a great change for a young actor to be candid and say that she doesn’t really learn anything from a director (Mani Ratnam, no less) just because he is considered great.In an interview with Firstpost, when actor Nitya Menen was asked how it was to work with Mani Ratnam in the recently released OK Kanmani, she says that she appreciated the fact that he was focused on his work and did not have an ego. She said: “When you are working with him, it’s just about the work – he cares about the work and I care about the work and it’s easy.”But to a question on what she “learnt” from him, Menen would have none of it. She basically said that just because he was Mani Ratnam, there wasn’t going to be any default greatness / education that his presence would exude.Of course, Menen used different words: “This is a question that keeps getting asked – I can’t force myself to learn something because it’s Mani Ratnam! Just because it’s a Mani Ratnam film, it doesn’t mean you learn from it. It can be a fun experience; it can be about sharing; it can be so many things. I learn from a lot of things in life – I even learn from small children. In fact, I think I have learnt the most in my life from Kanchana 2”When all most stars have to say about a film, director, performance or actor doesn’t vary from three or four words – great, fantastic, amazing – there isn’t going to be much scope for some honest and sincere examination of a film or performance.Nitya's remark is a limited one, and stars need to go beyond that. One can only hope that such brutally honest answers are given when those in the industry are asked about movies and movie makers. The unwritten rule that everyone has to gush at even terrible work needs to be undone.From genuine critique can come the effort to do a good job. Says one journalist on the film beat: “I think this culture of adulation limits us because we are not able to see our own flaws. Directors think they make great film, but there’s no one to tell them that their film is crap – except the critics, and they get trashed when they do. But when actors say the same, it makes the industry more sensitive to criticism.”Even on acting, Nitya, distinguishes between roles that have merely a screen presence and roles that actually give her creative satisfaction. “I shouldn’t have a lot of screen presence and nothing to do in the film… You can be a non-actor and still be in the industry. But if you are an actor, you have to creatively satisfy yourself.”So is the film industry up for some soul searching? Read- Living it up post-divorce: Actor Lissy is a refreshing change