#MeTooIndia: Sruthi Hariharan calls out Arjun Sarja

Over the last couple of weeks, several big actors in

Bollywood

have been publicly named through the #MeToo movement. The first to break her silence from Sandalwood was

Sangeetha Bhat

, who spoke of her many harrowing experiences, but without naming anyone. Stating that “the #MeToo movement has made many of us comfortable with sharing our uncomfortable realities”, Sruthi Hariharan has now spoken up, and has named veteran actor Arjun Sarja.

In her recent social media post, Sruthi says that like most women, she also faced several instances of sexual harassment, in the form of obscene remarks and unwanted sexual advances. When it comes to her profession, the actress says, “The most common attempt at harassment in the film industry is the casting couch, which is presented as a prerequisite for work opportunities. Non-compliance of the couch might result in losing that opportunity. Sometimes they simply say, ‘Compromise, or someone else will’... the stories get darker.”

Sruthi says that she has been lucky to escape “physically and mentally scarring situations”. “However, in late 2016, there was one incident that left me startled and took a while for me to recover. I was shooting for a bilingual film that starred Arjun Sarja — a man whose movies I have grown up watching. I was excited about the opportunity. The first few days seemed normal. I played his wife in the film and one day, we were to do a romantic scene, in which we had to hug each other after a brief dialogue. During the rehearsal, we delivered our lines and Mr Arjun hugs me. With no forewarning or permission, he runs his hands intimately up and down my back. He pulls me closer with my body taut against his and asks the director if we could use this idea of foreplay in the scene. I was aghast. I am all for depicting realism in cinema, but this felt absolutely wrong. His intent seemed anything but professional. I hated that he did it and angry that I didn’t know what to say then,” Sruthi writes in her post.

Sruthi adds that she made sure that the direction and makeup team knew of her discomfort, and that she continued shooting because as a professional, she had to finish what she signed up for. But the unease continued with every “smutty innuendo he made”. She was also appalled by “his salacious invitations to meet him after work”.

Admitting that she tried to normalise Arjun’s behaviour and ignore his comments, for fear of it resulting in issues in the production of the film, Sruthi maintained a cordial distance. So, why did she choose to break her silence now? “I choose to come out now, because henceforth, I think Mr Arjun Sarja needs to make sure he doesn’t cross the thin line between two actors, and use his position of power to cause another person discomfort or hurt. I choose to do this publicly, because this movement is more than you and me and our individual experiences,” she writes.

While speaking to TV journalists, Arjun denied the allegations levelled against him by Sruthi. He said, “I never expected this. I have acted with 60-70 heroines in 150 movies, but no one has pointed fingers at me. Sruthi Hariharan was happy with the working environment and even said that she wants to work with me in the future. I am a pucca professional actor. When I got the movie script, there were more intimate scenes and I had told the director to choose someone else for the role, as I didn’t want to do so many intimate scenes. I plan to sue Sruthi Hariharan for these allegations.”

TOI's policy on covering #MeToo:
https://www.thetimesofindia.online/india/tois-policy-on-covering-metoo/articleshow/66214582.cms