CHENNAI: Singer, voice actor, and leading #MeToo campaigner, Chinmayi Sripaada on Friday was reportedly asked to pay Rs 1.5 lakh and tender a written apology if she wanted to be reinstated into the South India Cine, Television Artistes and Dubbing Artistes Union.
The singer was previously ousted from the union on November 17 for “non-payment of subscription fees for the past two years”. This effectively meant that she could no longer dub in Tamil films as membership in the dubbing union required to work in the industry.
In a dubbing union meeting held Friday, it was announced that Chinmayi could be reinstated if she were to pay Rs 1.5 lakh, tender an apology letter and submit an application to be added as a member again. Chinmayi, responding to this, tweeted that the union, which had already made lakhs from her income since 2006, was now demanding another Rs 1.5 lakh to let her work.
She further questioned the need for her to become a new member when big actors and directors were named ‘Lifetime Members’ of the union after dubbing for one or two films. She also raised doubts about the requirement to pay Rs 1.5 lakh, when the dubbing union bylaw says Rs 2,500 is the fee to become a new member.
Radharavi, president of the union was not available for comment.
Chinmayi, who has been working as a voice-artist from 2006, has been at the forefront of the #MeToo movement, highlighting claims of sexual harassment in the Indian music and film industry. She had accused Vairamuthu of sexual harassment in a series of tweets, about a month ago.
She has supported two women who have accused Radharavi of sexual misconduct (he has denied the allegations). In addition, she had also highlighted claims made by other individuals against OS Thyagarajan, Raghu Dixit, Mandolin U Rajesh, playback singer Karthik, and several other Carnatic musicians.