On Saturday, actress Sruthi Hariharan took to social media to share her experience with actor Arjun Sarja. A known action actor from the Tamil industry, Sruthi narrated her ordeal about being hugged inappropriately by him and making scenes uncomfortable for her.
“I was shooting for a bilingual film which starred Arjun Sarja. A man whose movies I have grown up watching. I was excited about the opportunity. The first few days seemed normal, I played his wife in the film and that day we were to do a romantic scene where we had to hug each other after a brief dialogue. During the rehearsal, we delivered our lines and Mr. Arjun hugs me. With no forewarning or permission, he runs his hands intimately up and down my back. He pulls me closer with my body taut against his and asks the director if we could use this idea of foreplay in the scene. I was aghast. I am all for depicting realism in cinema, but this felt absolutely wrong. His intent seemed anything but professional. I hated that he did it and angry that I didn’t know what to say then.”
#metoo #comingout against all odds. Inspite of the all the comments, backlash and misogyny that will follow, I share my experiences below cos this is about a larger change! Bring it on ! #Speakup men and women . It’s time. pic.twitter.com/xzjA8EnGjR
— sruthihariharan (@sruthihariharan) October 20, 2018
Much like most women, she is done keeping quiet with her colleague and friend, Shraddha Srinath, attesting this incident.
I have known about this incident since November 2016, when @sruthihariharan and I attended a talk show together and the talk of casting couch and other related topics came up. Shruti didn’t take names that day but off camera she told us what happened. https://t.co/lo2lkN14H2
— Shraddha Srinath (@ShraddhaSrinath) October 20, 2018
On the heels of this, director-actress Lakshmy Ramakrishnan chose to speak up on the harassment she faced from a popular cinema PR professional. “Would like to throw some more light on the issue. @onlynikil has at times crossed modesty line & tried to express his right to favours indirectly. Handled it myself, sometimes with diplomacy, sometimes aggressively,” she wrote in a series of tweets.
My experience with @onlynikil is if I am in his good books, I get invited to award functions, my films will be noticed, but I chose not to lose my self respect & took the brunt @filmfare. I have tweeted about this earlier, but without revealing names @metoo has empowered me now https://t.co/xvoka4ULTH
— Lakshmy Ramakrishnan (@LakshmyRamki) October 21, 2018
I have laughed and smiled from outside while I was fuming inside, even now I discussed 109 times before exposing @onlynikil , because I am scared he will damage my film! But decided to face it, otherwise it will be unfair to stand by #MeTooMovement https://t.co/xvoka4ULTH
— Lakshmy Ramakrishnan (@LakshmyRamki) October 21, 2018
. @Actor_Siddharth if @onlynikil is capable of this behaviour with me who is , may be 10 yrs older to him, imagine young girls who r at his mercy?!! Can’t our society / industry treat women as professionals and level the ground for all talents irrespective of gender?! #metoo
— Lakshmy Ramakrishnan (@LakshmyRamki) October 21, 2018
The PR has since apologised, with Lakshmy accepting his apology.
Met @LakshmyRamki & I apologised for making her uncomfortable Unknowingly . & her request to treat women as professionals based on the talent is assured from my side & will work towards levelling the Ground for all Professionals & I will stand with #MeToo
— Nikkil (@onlynikil) October 22, 2018
That is like a man @onlynikil and really hope you treat the young girls who come with dreams & passion , with due respect. We need to take this movement forward with a positive approach and achieve the purpose of #metoo , which is levelling the ground😍
— Lakshmy Ramakrishnan (@LakshmyRamki) October 22, 2018
On the heels of this, actress Lekha Washington, who has quite films, named just one word that was enough to put forth her point. ‘Kettavan’ was the name of the film that she starred in alongside Silambarasan, and her tweet indicated something bigger.
One word : Kettavan. #metoo
— lekha washington (@washingtonlekha) October 21, 2018
Siddharth wants journalists to stop asking stupid questions:
Actor Siddharth, who has been an ally in the whole #MeToo movement with him calling out people and showing his solidarity with women who have faced harassment, believes that it’s time journalists stop being disrespectful towards actresses. This was soon after the conference that Chinmayi, Leena Manimekalai, Lakshmy Ramakrishnan called for and were asked uncomfortable questions that were more along the lines of shaming them.
Siddharth particularly named actor-turned-reporter Payilvan Ranganathan.
Dear Tamil PROs… #PayilvanRanganathan has made unacceptable remarks against #TamilCinema and against women in general. In future if he is present in any event, my team and I will boycott. Please make a note. Enough putting up with this joker. #TimesUp
— Siddharth (@Actor_Siddharth) October 21, 2018
I request all my colleagues to name any journalist who they believe has poor intentions or professional ethics. Take a stand! We will not stand for abusive behaviour from anyone.We respect journalists and deserve respect in return.PROs note. @onlynikil @DoneChannel1 @RIAZtheboss
— Siddharth (@Actor_Siddharth) October 21, 2018
For years we have been instructed to tolerate #PayilvanRanganathan because he is senior. He asks disrespectful, inappropriate questions and we still tolerate. Enough. He has used disgusting words to describe us, our profession and our values. Shocking! @onlynikil @RIAZtheboss
— Siddharth (@Actor_Siddharth) October 21, 2018