#MeToo: Sruthi Hariharan vs Arjun Sarja battle divides Sandalwood

Bengaluru: Within hours of actress, Sruthi Hariharan making a #MeToo allegation against multilingual filmstar, Arjun Sarja, Sandalwood was divided with most coming out in support of the actor, and questioning Sruthi’s motives.

One theory doing the rounds is that Sruthi is being revengeful as she   had on several occasions requested Arjun to  cast her opposite his nephew and popular actor, Dhruva Sarja, but was turned down.  

Arjun’s father-in-law, Rajesh,  a veteran actor himself, has, meanwhile, appealed to the Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce (KFCC) to intervene in the matter and the chamber, which held an emergency meeting, has reportedly  decided to resolve things amicably through dialogue  possibly with the involvement of the head of the artistes’ association, Ambareesh.

Arjun’s mother Lakshmi, too has furiously denied Sruthi’s charges,  calling them baseless and vowing to make her pay for causing irreparable damage to her family’s reputation. She claimed the actress once visited her house asking for Arjun, and was now acting out of revenge because things didn’t work out as she had hoped.

Arjun’s daughter Aishwarya, recalled that Sruthi had once praised her father and his work and wondered why she was now making serious charges against him.
But among the actors and actresses, who have come out in support of Sruthi, is actor Prakash Raj, who tweeted that even if  Arjun  dismissed her charges it would be best for him to apologise to her.

Shraddha Srinath, Neethu, Avantika Shetty, Samyuktha Hegde and a few others from the industry too have expressed their solidarity with Sruthi with the hashtag #wearewithshru on social media platforms.

Actor and social activist Chetan, the man behind the establishment of the Film Industry for Rights and Equality (FIRE) has also been drawn into the controversy, with Mr Rajesh and Arjun Sarja's  close friend, Prashanth Sambargi alleging that he had orchestrated the actor’s embarrassment as an act of revenge for being dropped from one of  his projects.

Mr Sambargi recalled that Mr Chetan, who was initially supposed to be the lead in Arjun Sarja's production venture to launch his daughter, was later dropped. “He was given Rs 10 lakh as advance by Arjun Sarja, which he has still  not returned. We will soon disclose the details of the cheque. It is a well choreographed act to malign the reputation of an actor , misusing the movement,” he charged. When contacted, Mr Chetan, however, rubbished the allegations , calling them fabricated to divert people’s attention from the main issue of women’s rights.

The head of FIRE, Kavitha Lankesh clarified once again on Monday that it was set up much before the #MeToo movement and its Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) was working for equality and rights of the women and others workers in the industry. “It is a platform to instill hope and strength in any victim who approaches the body  within three to six months of the incident. Sruthi's case is much older and although we have not taken it up,  we are of course with her and hope that the truth will surface,” she added.

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