Observation is the key to safety: Meera Vasudevan

Meera Vasudevan is remembered best by Malayalis for her role in Thanmatra where she played the lead opposite Mohanlal. After a long gap, she is trying to stage a comeback through the film, Chakkaramavin Kombath, and has been travelling to different shooting locations. Expressing shock about the arrest of Dileep, she mentions that she has grown up considering him an idol.
As a single woman, how secure does she feel in the phase after the assault on an actor in Kochi? “Sexual assaults aren’t restricted only to our industry,” she says. I feel extremely secure in this industry. Film people are my family. They are very loving, protective and caring. If I am insecure about something, it's only about the outsiders or by-standers who are not of the film background and who get carried away when they come across an actor or actress or any of their vulnerable family members. For that we need to keep a close eye on who we are interacting with. Let’s not be too accessible to non-filmy people, when it comes to our children and elders. True lovers of cinema and fans are always willing to support and they always stand by their idols, so there is never any threat from them.”
After the incident came to light, did she take any precautions? “I only work with people who I know I will be safe and secure with. I am more than willing to pass up a profitable opportunity with any suspicious characters if I feel intuitively that I will not be safe with them,” she says, adding that the producers and directors she has worked with have always made sure that she is accompanied in the car by a personal assistant and the production-in-charge.
The key aspect, in her opinion, is to be observant. “When we are observant, our intuition works harder to guide us,” she says. “We have a gut feeling about someone when we meet them the first time. So keep your gadgets down, they dumb down your intuition. Then pay attention to the person who will accompany you. Talk and ask questions before you get into any car. Call an authority at the workplace and ask him details of the car, driver and others accompanying for verification. Then and then alone get in. Make sure also that the child lock on the door is not engaged and the windows are in your control.”