The DMK party suspended actor Radha Ravi for his sexist remarks on actress Nayanthara. The DMK said Ravi was acting in a manner that was bringing disrepute to the party and defying party discipline. This is the first formal reaction to the actor’s controversial personal remarks he made at the launch of her forthcoming film Kolaiyuthir Kaalamon the actress in which he even compared her to a woman of easy virtue.
After a heavy backlash from all quarters, Radha Ravi finally expressed regret without quite making an unqualified apology for his comments about Nayanthara. He only said he had been misunderstood and that he was willing to meet Nayan and Vignesh in person and explain. He added that he would quit DMK if the party was being affected because of him.
Nayanthara’s fiancé and filmmaker Vignesh Shivan, who slammed Radha Ravi for his crude speech in a series of posts on his social media handle had also requested DMK chief M.K. Stalin and Kanimozhi to take action on Radha Ravi by tagging them in a tweet.
Vignesh had said, “@mkstalin sir & @KanimozhiDMK Madame, both respected leaders have voiced vociferously against Pollachi Sexual Harassment case. Please, Why don’t you take stringent action against male chauvinist, crass sexist & bully Mr. Radha Ravi? Kindly acknowledge and take action.”
Stalin tweeted saying the party upholds the rights of women and Ravi’s views about female movie actors were unacceptable and strongly condemnable. He warned his party cadres and leaders from speaking ill of women.
Vishal, Nadigar Sangam General Secretary and Tamil Film Producers Council President currently shooting in Turkey for his upcoming film, condemned Radha Ravi for his personal attack on Nayanthara. The actor said that the Nadigar Sangam has sent a letter to Radha Ravi condemning his “stupidity”.
Vishal urged the veteran actor to “grow up”, writing on twitter, “Dear #radharavi SIR. Yes as a gen Secy of Nadigar sangam I wish I had da pleasure of signing the letter of condemning u 4 yr stupidity n yr recent speech against women n particular. Its sent 2 u. grow up. call yaself Ravi fm now onwrds Coz u hv a woman s name n ya name.”
KJR Studios, which made Nayan movies like Aramm and Airaa and distributed Viswasam, have stated that they would never cast Radha Ravi in their projects. “We sincerely condemn Mr #RadhaRavi and will not cast him in any of our films and we will strongly advice our associates and friends in the industry not to cast him either”.
Actor Siddharth was about the only one to voice a different opinion on the subject, indirectly alluding that Nayanthara was silent during the #MeToo movement. He tweeted, “I was shocked that my entire fraternity was either silent or cynical about the #MeToo movement; I silently rued the fact that it would take only the anger of a powerful woman to make the sleeping wake up. If you speak up only when your own are affected, it’s not called bravery.”
Vignesh Shivan was quick to react and defended Nayan by putting out a statement tagging Siddharth and writing, “One’s silence on social media does not mean that they are not supporting an issue”. He further added, “Nayanthara has always stood for the safety and welfare of women”.
