A glossy campaign video from LA mayoral hopeful Nithya Raman is racking up views, and drawing sharp pushback, as she casts herself as Hollywood’s would-be rescuer, even name-dropping her high-profile husband, Vali Chandrasekaran.
“Look around,” Raman says in the video, standing on a quiet studio lot. “Lots like this used to be full of people… Now these lots are quiet.”
She calls the crisis “personal,” pointing to her husband, a prominent television writer, and warning that families across Los Angeles are losing work as production dries up.
The message is polished. The timing is political.
Because despite the urgency in her pitch, the film and television industry has not been a defining focus of Raman’s record at City Hall.
City records show that in the six years on the Los Angeles City Council, Raman has not introduced a single piece of legislation aimed at supporting the industry.
And, when the council took up seven measures in March 2026 to address permitting, production and infrastructure, she recused herself from four, citing conflicts tied to her husband’s work.
Along with not taking action on Hollywood-specific measures, Raman has also voted against efforts to make parts of Los Angeles more usable.
Just last week, Ramanvoted againstestablishing an anti-camping enforcement area in Venice, a high-traffic corridor just blocks from the beach and an area used for theproduction of Baywatch.
The Gram video rollout has also drawn scrutiny from industry insiders.
Source: California Post – Breaking California News, Photos & Videos
