Vairamuthu denies harassment claims, Chinmayi calls him a liar'

Chennai: As the #MeToo movement hit Kollywood with several women, including noted singer Chinmayi Sripaada, on Wednesday accusing award-winning poet-lyricist Vairamuthu, who sought to brush them aside saying he would rather ignore them as untruth. Responding to his defense on tweet, Chinmayi tweeted back:’Liar’. Chinmayi had alleged that Vairamuthu had harassed her during a foreign tour sometime in 2005 or 2006. The tour organiser had asked her and her mother to stay back while the rest of the TN performers packed up for home after the show ended. The man told them they must go to Vairamuthu's hotel and Chinmayi should ‘cooperate’. Shocked, the two packed up and took the next flight back to Chennai.

While Chinmayi’s tweets sent shock waves across the Tamil cinema industry, several other women too came out with their allegations against the celebrated lyricist, who finally came out with his defense, saying he was being “repeatedly insulted” in the recent past and these #MeToo allegations too were part of that vilification campaign against him.

“The indecency of defaming known persons is becoming a fashion across the country. Of late, I have been repeatedly insulted and this is one of those. I ignore anything that is far from truth. Time will tell the truth,” he wrote on Twitter.

Chinmayi hit back on twitter, with just one stinging word- ‘Liar’. Her mother Padmasini told a TV channel that Chinmayi’s charge was indeed true. “I was told by the organiser to send in Chinmayi and cooperate. We packed up and took the next flight to Chennai”, she said looking visibly upset.

While major stars from the south film industry have stayed away from commenting on #MeToo movement actor Siddharth and Prakash Raj have backed the campaign. “Multiple women are speaking out against Kavignar #Vairamuthu. Without judging anyone, they must be heard. When somebody of @Chinmayi'’s stature who has so much to lose, stands by the accusers, that’s huge! There will be investigation. First step #ListenToTheAccuser #MeToo #Timesup,” Siddharth tweeted.

Actor Prakash Raj said, “#MeToo...this is an EPIDEMIC in all walks of life....to be DONE WITH in our SOCIETY...more power to you WOMAN ... YOU CAN DO IT..come out and give it back.....continue #justasking.”

Raghu Dixit, the front man for the Raghu Dixit Project, a multilingual folk music band, is the latest to be accused of sexual harassment by an anonymous singer, whose account was shared by Chinmayi on Twitter.