As the #MeToo movement gains momentum, more predators are being named and shamed. The latest list features two film personalities from Malayalam – a music director and a filmmaker who is no more.
In a series of message screenshots surfaced on the Twitter handle India Protests, a girl alleges that a big shot music director from South against whom nobody dares to talk harassed her. The Twitter handle, stressing that the victim has demanded anonymity, has however named the music director.
In her account, the singer says that she was a teen when the musician, then in his early 30s, called her and during the casual chat, told her that he wanted to have a relationship with her. She was scared but he pursued the demand in several other occasions in worse ways — asking if she watched adult movies. The post reads, “He kept on trying over the years. When I was in college, he texted me, asking whether I am still a virgin...” Even though she told him that she wasn’t interested in such matters, he kept on calling her.
Once, on the pretext of discussing a song for her, he told her, “Actually, I have got a lot of songs for you. But first, come to my house. Then we will plan. And by the way, are you still a virgin?”
The post continues: The biggest mistake I did was that I didn’t slap him in the beginning itself. I was scared then. And I got totally paranoid each time he came up with stuff like that. I tried to make him understand each time that I wanted a healthy friendship with him and nothing more. But this guy was shameless and desperate. I have heard that he has done this to many women. But as he is a big shot here, no one dares to talk about it.”
In another series of tweets, actress Divya Unny, a Mumbai-born actress, who was seen in the Hindi movie Traffic, with Manoj Bajpayee has called out a National Award-winning Malayalam filmmaker who, three years ago, had asked her to sleep with him. “He had said to me that I won’t get any roles down south unless I sleep with him. He was a misogynist and a disgrace to the cinema he claimed to love. He's no more now.”
The actress had been vocal about casting couch in Malayalam film industry, but hadn’t named him so far. Posting the link of an article she wrote on the issue in 2017. She tweets: “The person mentioned in the article and the person in my tweet are one and the same. I couldn't reveal his name when I wrote this piece.”
Clarifying further, she tweets: “And yes, I was very comfortable on the sets of his film. It was months later that I met with him in Kerala when the said incident occurred. I didn’t have reason to be cautioned by him till then. I haven’t mentioned his name as the perpetrator in the article cos I had written it last year and wasn’t sure of the ramifications. Hence I am coming out with it now.”
