Tollywood actress Sri Reddy stripped to protest against the sexual harassment women face in their industry
Suhas Yellapantula (BOMBAY TIMES; April 9, 2018)

A controversial TV presenter-turned-actress, Sri Reddy, has been making sensational allegations against the casting couch menace in the Telugu film industry, decided to take her protest to the next level on Saturday. Demanding justice, she staged a dharna outside the Movie Artistes’ Association (MAA) headquarters in Film Nagar, Hyderabad, vowing not to budge until she got a solution. And when no one paid heed, she stripped right there, in the middle of the road, and sat down in protest bare-chested. “This is the only way I can get them to listen to me. I have had to strip in front of several people in the film industry who promised work. Yet, I got no roles. I have been shouting from the rooftops about the injustice that has been meted out to me and to several other women in the film industry and yet, I have not got any response from MAA. So I have decided to strip publicly,” she said.

Chaos erupted soon after, both outside MAA office from where the actress was whisked away, as well on social media, where the whole episode played out live. And the internet came out in full force, all fangs bared, to judge, shame, blame and joke about the “striptease”.

“For God’ sake plz leave this industry (sic),”a Twitter user commented. Several others reacted with a facepalm or an “OMG”. Social activist Sunitha Krishnan opined, “Just because she’s a woman, it doesn’t mean she is holier than thou. Casting couch exists in all film industries, but I have serious doubts about her allegations.”

But even Sri’s protest is being dismissed as a publicity-seeking ‘stunt’, it can’t be denied that for the first time ever, there is a voice being raised against the sexual predators in Tollywood. It cannot be denied that this shocking protest does raise some uncomfortable questions which remain unanswered.

WHY IS THERE NO ‘CASH’ IN TOLLYWOOD?
A Committee Against Sexual Harassment (CASH) is mandatory in any workplace, which has more than 10 employees. And yet, the film industry seems to be exempt from this rule. In fact, Tollywood seems to run on its own set of rules, and there is no platform for women to air their grievances. Given the sheer number of people who are employed in the film industry, the fact that there is no CASH is a cause for concern. Filmmaker Nandini Reddy, agrees. “We definitely need a CASH to be set up in the film industry. There are so many associations today, but the real issues get sidelined. Actors do face issues of harassment and these associations will have to set up a CASH committee. In fact, it was something that we were discussing a few days ago, and hopefully it will take shape soon,” she says.

WHY IS ‘MAA’ SILENT?
The protesting actress alleges that she has been denied membership of the Movie Artistes’ Association despite having acted in three films. The actress said that she was not given a membership card even though she had applied for it. But what’s more worrisome is that MAA — which was instituted for the welfare for cine artistes — hasn’t issued any comment on the issue, even though the actress has been making serious allegations for more than a fortnight. When contacted, MAA president Sivaji Raja feigned complete ignorance of any such issue. But the actress had just stripped naked in front of the MAA office, we pointed out. “I’m shooting right now and I’m not aware of what is going on (at the office). I wouldn’t like to comment on this,”said Sivaji, distancing himself from the controversy.

WHY ARE WOMEN IN TOLLYWOOD SILENT?
When a TV news anchor abused actresses in Tollywood on-air recently, actresses like Lakshmi Manchu, Rakul Preet and Lavanya Tripathi took to Twitter to slam him and strongly voiced their views against such behavior. However, when a female colleague from the fraternity — never mind how small — has been crying hoarse about harassment, not a single actress has come out with a word in support or solidarity. In fact, the only two cents Rakul Preet could give on the issue was that she didn’t face any such incident. “I’ve been in this industry for seven years and I have always been treated well. I don’t know if casting couch exists or not, but nobody has tried to act funny with me,” Rakul had said. None of the “victims” who the protesting actress claims have gone through similar forms of sexual abuse in Tollywood have come forward to support her in the cause either. Even on Saturday, she was the lone protestant. “I feel alienated. Nobody wants to come forward, which is why I have decided to take this step (of stripping),” the actress shared.

WHERE ARE THE MARD’S OF TOLLYWOOD?
Superstar Mahesh Babu supported Bollywood’s star Farhan Akhtar’s MARD (Men Against Rape and Discrimination) initiative to spread awareness about gender inequality and rape through social media. A poem, penned in Hindi by Javed Akhtar was translated into Telugu, and Mahesh Babu even lent his voice to the Telugu version. It was also shared by several other film stars in Tollywood on social media. And yet, when allegations of sexual harassment and abuse are being made against people from their own fraternity, Tollywood’s big stars are curiously silent. Will the big boys speak up?

WHY DO WE THINK IT’S OK TO SAY, ‘THIS WILL HAPPEN TO WOMEN LIKE SRI REDDY ’COS THEY ASK FOR IT’?
The sheer number of comments online that imply that ‘women like Sri Reddy ask for it’, is appalling. Judging a woman for the clothes she wears, the language she uses or her mode of protest and then saying ‘she is like that, she deserves it’ is akin to justifying violence against women. The focus should be on the issues that she has raised and not the manner in which she did. “There is nothing shameful about her mode of protest. It was a strong statement she made; she’s saying, ‘See! This is the same body that you make use of and have no respect for. So take it as a sign of protest now.’ The society, MAA and we have all pushed her to take this extreme step,” says Devi, a women’s rights activist. “A lot of people are taking the liberty to comment on her character and saying that a girl of ‘this sort’, ‘this type’ deserves it. I want to ask them clearly, what sort of men does the industry have? Starting right from the make-up boy to the actor to the financer, everyone treats women like they’re mere bodies,” she added.

CAN’T ‘SHE TEAMS’ STEP IN AND ASSURE A HARASSMENT-FREE FILM INDUSTRY?
Officers from She Teams explain that while they are open to listening to grievances about any issue that women face, they may not play a huge role of removing casting couch from the industry. “Our role is more focused on issues like eve teasing and public harassment, whereas casting couch happens within the boundaries of four walls. In the capacity of She Teams’ role, we can work on the aspect of awareness around sexual harassment at workplace. In the light of this issue though, we can come up with a plan by possibly coordinating with the film fraternity and the unions. However, it goes without saying that any woman with any complaint would be given due priority and her issues would be addressed. All women need to do is approach us and we will ensure their case or identity do not come into the fore,” said Shikha Goel, officer with She Teams, Hyderabad.

FINALLY, IS CM KCR LISTENING?
Unable to get justice anywhere else, Sri Reddy has been vocal about wanting K Chandrasekhar Rao to step in and help Telugu girls looking for work in the film industry.

On Friday, a day before her unique protest, Sri Reddy made a plea on her Facebook page, asking KCR to intervene: “Kcr garu Meru ma badha ardam cheskopothe, nirahara deeksha chestha (If you don’t understand my problem, I’m going to fast),which was following by u, and u were succeed..if u can't see it still, then I wl take a next step that I wl stand nude in public sir..please wake up..I dnt even know how to meet u sir. (sic)”

Sri Reddy has now gone ahead and stripped naked on the streets of Hyderabad’s posh Film Nagar locality. It remains to be seen if the Chief Minister takes notice of her protest and the issue she has raised.