Hours after popular Tamil actress Amala Paul released a statement in which she had stated that she faced harassment from director Susi Ganesan while filming for Thirutu Payale 2, the actress has put out a tweet claiming that the director and his wife Manjari had called her and abused her.
Her tweet reads, "Just got the shock of my life! Director Susi Ganesan and wife Manjari called and I picked up to explain the stand. While I was trying to pacify his wife; Susi started abusing me and to my surprise, his wife started laughing and they both joined to slut-shame me. They feel they can scare me with these tactics."
Earlier in the day, Amala Paul had come out in support of independent filmmaker Leena Manimekalai, who had alleged Susi Ganeshan of misbehaving with her.
The 'Mynaa' film actress' statement reads, "I support Leena Manimekalai's allegations and can imagine this episode happening with her, from a man who has a twisted set of moral values and utterly low respect for women. She being an aspiring director could have made her an easy target for such an incidence to take place.
Me too despite being the leading actress for Thirutu Payale 2 was subjected to double meaning talks, misrepresented offers and unchivalrous bodily contacts. This pretty much made my experience of shooting TP2, a mentally fatiguing one. I can totally understand what she could have been subjected through.
I applaud her for the courage she showed by narrating her ordeal on a public platform.
In our emerging economy and ever expanding female workforce, this behaviour is rampantly occurring everywhere, in all trades and industries.
These men treat their housewives and daughters different, but when it comes to their colleagues they don't miss a chance to show an upper hand and take advantage.
This is one of the main reasons, we Indians are unable to unlock our true potential either in creative, service or spiritual industries.
We have heard a lot of cases from the spiritual and creative industries. But true change will come when service and unorganized sectors are also heard for their #metoo ordeals.
It's high time that government and judicial benches device out a system to address these issues of our society and not let the female workforce of future subjected to such harrowing #metoo incidents."
The MeToo moment has been gaining momentum with every passing day with more women coming out with allegations of sexual harassment they have faced in the past. The film industry is one of the most affected ones as many female artists from Bollywood to Kollywood are sharing their horrific experiences about the same.
Thiruttu Payale 2 was released in 2017 and went on to become a sleeper-hit. The film starred Bobby Simha and Prasanna in lead roles. The movie spoke about the negative aspects of social media relationships.