Nude protest strips Tollywood, but Sri Reddy cast out in eerie hush

HYDERABAD: The dark underbelly of

Tollywood

was exposed on Saturday by a brazen — some may even call it revolutionary — semi-nude protest by aspiring actress Sri Reddy. And she brought to the fore a festering wound in

Telugu cinema

— the casting couch.

Also Read: Sri Reddy: I’m not afraid; will continue my fight against sexual harassment

While professional producers and directors usually keep away from such behaviour, there have been instances of actresses complaining of sexual exploitation.

And a day after Sri Reddy’s chilling protest, she claimed her landlord, a civil servant, had asked her to vacate her house. There were also few voices in her support, not even from Tollywood’s famed women’s brigade. A hush descended in filmdom, barring a strong condemnation of Sri Reddy’s act by the

Movie Artistes Association

(MAA).

Recently, an actress complained against a noted director, alleging sexual advances at her. This was brought to the notice of MAA by the victim. The director was summoned, but the budding actress withdrew and didn’t pursue the case. “We were ready to act against the director, but the complainant did not show up,” said actress Hema of Movie Artistes Association. She said there was a redressal mechanism in the film industry to tackle such complaints.

Also Read: Sri Reddy’s shocking nude protest raises some serious questions

Sexual exploitation of aspiring actresses is a reality and the rot runs deep. It needed a Sri Reddy to expose it in the most brazen way. The way her nude protest was condemned, provides enough scope to suggest women are exploited.

In another recent incident, MAA president Shivaji Raja said an actress had complained of sexual advances by someone from the industry. “He was reprimanded and he had to touch her feet and seek forgiveness,” he said.

Last year, actress Nikesha Patel made a stunning revelation about the casting couch in Tollywood. “It exists in Tollywood as much as it exists in Hollywood,” she had said without mentioning if she herself was a victim. The British-India model and actress had acted in the film ‘Komaram Puli’ in 2010. It was her debut film. Later, she did several films in different languages.

Some years ago, an actress from Mumbai lodged a complaint against a wellknown director. The actress then moved from Hyderabad to Chennai and stopped doing Telugu films.

In August last year, an actress lodged a complaint at Patamata police station in Vijayawada against character actor, Chalapathi Rao, and actor Srujan for attempting to outrage her modesty during a film shoot.

There, however, is also a situation in the film industry where aspiring actresses, dying for a role, make it clearly known to producers and directors they are willing to 'cooperate' with them.