#MeToo is not only about physical sexual abuse; verbal harassment is also not ok: Neethu

I support the

#MeToo

movement and applaud those who have mustered the courage to come out and talk about it. But what’s unfortunate is that the victims have got very little support, with everyone rallying around the alleged perpetrators in our industry. This is one of the reasons I choose not to name anyone in my account of what I have encountered in my career.
I have been lucky enough to not have had physical sexual harassment, because when I sign up for a movie or just an item number, I make my boundaries very clear and what the team can expect from me. But what has hassled me just as much is the verbal

harassment

I have experienced. I believe that verbal harassment is just as appalling and should not be allowed or encouraged. To put this in context, let me narrate a couple of instances that occurred to me in my early years in the industry. Once, I was shooting a sequence in which I, as the wife of the hero, had to go up to him and wake him up, telling him that he was getting late. As we shot the scene and I said my line to the hero, he leaned in and whispered in my ear that I had woken him up all over.
The second time was even worse because it came from a woman. The scene was of me in labour pain and the director wanted to can a shot of me happy with a hint of shyness when my onscreen husband comes. The rejoinder that the actress who played my mother-in-law came up with was cringeworthy — ‘Naachike enaadru ullididre’ .
Another time a co-star asked me to drop by his home to see his vast antique collection. I was young and got scared, so I told him that if the others on the cast and crew were coming, I would join them. The result — my co-star didn’t talk to me for the next three days to make sure that I understood his displeasure.