Speaking at an event, she said that she looked up to the director as a father figure until he propositioned sex to her. “He had asked me to wait outside while he spoke to my mother. He told her that if I wanted to do this role, I had to sleep with him. That’s when I wondered why people take advantage of their positions,” she shared, saying that she does not want to name him.
She further narrated her other experiences with sexual misconduct, adding that in all the times, she complained or fought back.
“Once, when someone assaulted me in public, I kicked him back. Another time, there was a police officer in my area who made me feel unsafe. He was removed after I filed a complaint,” she said, adding that she believes that self-defense is the best thing.
The past one month has been an important one for women in India, marking a watershed moment where women have been outing their harassers with their identity and anonymously, too. While this is being dubbed as India’s #MeToo and #TimesUp movement that was originally started by student Raya Sarkar’s list of sexual harassers in academia (LoSHA) last year, this year the moment gained more attention a week ago when former actress Tanushree Dutta shared how veteran actor Nana Patekar abused and harassed her ten years ago.
Ever since then, women have been opening up about workplace harassment with several names of prominent figures being added to the list.
In Kollywood, singer Chinmayi Sripada has been leading the movement. She opening up about her experience with noted lyricist Vairamuthu, with several other women corroborating stories of his misconduct. Soon enough, other women started opening up about other members of the fraternity including Radha Ravi, Arjun Sarja, singer Karthik, Susi Ganesan et al.
READ: All You Need To Know About The #MeToo & #TimesUp Campaign
ALSO READ: Here’s why the #MeToo movement matters
