A recent weekend episode of Bigg Boss Tamil 3 had received severe backlash for 'normalising' sexual harassment. The show's host Kamal Haasan was trying to sort out a spat between contestants Meera Mitun and Cheran, and cited an instance where people would get onto a crowded bus as they were running late for work. He then brought up another category of people, who get onto crowded buses just to misbehave with women.
Actor and contestant Saravanan then interrupted Haasan to say, "I have done it, sir."
While Haasan assumed that Saravanan had come to the defense of people who misbehaved with women, Saravanan admitted that he used to take the bus just to grope women. "I used to do it when I was in college," confessed Saravanan.The admission was received with cheers from the audience.
Kamal went on to laughingly say, "Avaru adhaiyum thaandi punidham aayitaaru (loosely translated to, 'he became all the more purer').
Saravanan's comments didn't go down well with a lot of people, many of whom, including singer Chinmayi, took to social media to bash him and Kamal Haasan, who let the admission slide, without admonition.
Subsequently, Kamal's spokesperson clarified that the actor was being sarcastic.
It is now reported that the Bigg Boss had, apparently, summoned Saravanan to the confession room, following the backlash, and had asked the actor to tender an apology.
Saravanan admitted that what he did during his college days was wrong, and that he deeply regrets it. He also requested people not to indulge in any kind of harassment against women.
"To everyone who is watching the show, I have to clarify something. When Kamal Sir asked the question, I reflexively agreed to doing it. During my college days, I have made certain mistakes, mostly tiny ones. The intention was to ask viewers not to do these things but I somehow got the tone wrong. I am stressing it, again. Harassing and groping women in buses, or in any other public modes of transport, is wrong. Be it before Bigg Boss, now or after the show, I will keep telling people not to make the same mistakes I made. There are stringent punishments for these kinds of behaviour. I am sorry if I have hurt anyone's sentiments," he said.
Earlier, the show had been centre of controversy after an alleged "manhandling" accusation by actor and model Meera Mitun on director Cheran. The latter denied any wrongdoing and defended himself saying that it was an attempt to tarnish his image.
After Meera's eviction, the 12 remaining contestants will battle it out for the title. Rythvika won the title last season, while Arav was the winner in the first season of Bigg Boss Tamil.
(This story originally appeared on cinemaexpress.com)