Where are our heroes, asks Chinmayi after the sexist speech of Radha Ravi against Nayanthara

Since popular singer Chinmayi Sripaada became one of the faces of the #MaToo Movement in the south, she has been subjected to endless trolls, verbal abuse and hostile interrogations in public. She says that job opportunities for her have dried up in the Tamil film industry, even as she is fighting a court to lift the ban imposed on her by the dubbing syndicate. Chinmayi continues to disrupt attention by drawing attention to the issue of women's rights in the industry.

She recently called the silence of members of the Tamil film fraternity, everyone seemingly conveniently ignoring the misogynist tyrant of the main actor Radha Ravi. Nayanthara. His tweet questioning the silence of the male actors on the issue put Radha Ravi in ​​the place, forcing the DMK party and Nadigar Sangam to act. While the DMK temporarily suspended him, the guild of the actors felt happy by sending a letter condemning his remarks.

Below are excerpts from Chinmayi's exclusive conversation with indianexpress.com: [19659006VerichianWhatwasyourfirstactionafterRadhaRavi'sspeech?

I received the message (on Twitter) saying, "Let's see what it is ( Radha Ravi) again becomes abusive ". I thought he was abusing me as usual. Because he did not let go for a public event or show where he did not shame the #MeToo movement or said he wanted it to be violated because he was only named in badual harbadment cases. In fact, he continues to joke about rape and badual abuse. When I saw him talking about Nayanthara like that, I expected some outrage. It happened Friday night. Ironically, it was Nayanthara's film event. He goes on stage, abuses Naythanara and people applaud. They let him talk all the time, instead of turning off the microphone, slapping him and sending him on his way. I waited for at least one person to express his indignation about it. Even Vignesh Shivan (Nayanthara's boyfriend) took more than 24 hours to react. I'm sure it hurts, but why does anyone question this toxicity? Is Radha Ravi so important or is he afraid of having good political contacts or is it pointless to raise all these questions and let this toxicity persist? The thing about Radha Ravi is, he'll threaten you with a ban or a red card. I understand that future artists have a lot to lose. But where are these men fighting rape, while delivering heroic dialogues in the movies? Where are these heroes who have gone from cinema to politics? What did they do to clean up the movie industry?

Q. Are you satisfied with the number of people who have spoken out against Radha Ravi now?

No. Who spoke? There was some public outrage. DMK members understood that they could not afford to ignore it and temporarily suspended it. He will soon be back at DMK or another party. When such men represent a party, how can we believe that this political party will protect the interests of women? No political party in this country has given me the conviction that it defends women's security and empowerment. I will not vote for any of them. I opt for 49-O. None of the men (in position of power and influence) spoke for Nayanthara. What belongs to the past or the future of Nayanthara is nobody's business.

Q. In a sense, the Malayalam film industry has become aware of the problem of women's safety before any other industry. Women in Cinema Collective has been created and is systematically trying to change the sector. Do you think something like this is going to happen in Tamil Nadu?

There is no possibility that this will happen here. Where is the ICC (Internal Complaints Committee)? It has been said that he will be trained in six months. Where is it? Radha Ravi has the gall to pretend that the dubbing syndicate is the only trade union in the film industry to have an ITC. Where is it? Three cases of badual harbadment are held against him. Even in Kerala, Dileep sells two movies in a row and the members of Women Cinema Collective can not find work. Parvathy is called all sorts of names when his movie comes out. People are afraid to have her sign for movies.

Q. Do you see a change in the movie industry in the #MeToo era?

Nothing has changed in the industry. Everyone wants to shut up and claims that nothing has happened. They do not need me to say that Vairamuttu is an aggressor. It's an open secret. I was talking about Radha Ravi and his abusive speech for six months. He was going to campaign for the DMK from Sunday. The point to note here, it is that he would have gone about his business if his speech on Nayanthara had not failed. People have seen me banished and have done nothing about it.

Q. What are the new leaders of Nadigar Sangam doing about this?

I have no idea. And what was this letter of condemnation to Radha Ravi? It was the most polite letter of condemnation. They sent me a letter worse than that. The contents of the letter would have made sense if he had committed this offense for the first time. But he has been reoffending for 10 years and this is not the way to condemn him. Why are they afraid of him? In person, many of them are sympathetic to the cause. But, they take no action. Apparently, the producers' council does not have the right to interfere in the dubbing union's work. But dubbing unions can send a letter to other unions asking them not to work with me. How does this one-way traffic work?

Q. How has the dubbing union become so powerful?

Everything is Radha Ravi. When he took over the union, he changed the rules. He runs illegal panchayats at the union. His word is the law. Anyone who questions him is thrown out. He uses more vulgar language while he is at the union. We just avoided it because we were not ready to fight with him, which allowed him to become such a big problem.