Director Venkat Prabhu recently stated in an interview that he believes it’s time for the Tamil film industry to address allegations of sexual harassment head-on after the release of the Hema Committee report. He spoke to NDTV about his hope for a safer working environment for women.  

‘Women go through it in all industries’

Venkat told the publication that ensuring abusers face punishment is one way to deter future offences against women in the workplace. He said, “At least from now, the Tamil film industry should start clearing things up. I have two daughters. We need a safer place for women. Women go through the same in all sectors, including media, IT, and sports, but the cinema industry often finds itself under the spotlight. Ensure punishment so men will be scared to do what they do.”

When Venkat was asked if the Tamil film industry should have acted on singer Chinmayi Sripada’s sexual harassment claims against lyricist Vairamuthu and actor Radha Ravi, he simply said that the industry is ‘taking care of it’. Chinmayi also spoke to the publication and claimed that neither the industry not the FEFSI has ‘done anything’ to make the film industry a safer place for women.

The Justice K Hema Committee report was released on August 19 this year. The report was headed by a former high court judge and set up after a female Malayalam actor was sexually assaulted in 2017. Actor Dileep was arrested in connection to the ongoing case and was in jail for three months before being released on bail. The report detailed the harassment and exploitation women go through in the Malayalam film industry.

Upcoming work

Venkat’s last film was the Telugu-Tamil bi-lingual Custody, starring Naga Chaitanya and Arvind Swami in the lead roles. The film was released in theatres in 2023 to a lukewarm response. His next film, The Greatest of All Time (The GOAT) will be released in theatres on September 5. The film stars Vijay in dual roles alongside Prashanth, Prabhu Deva, Ajmal Ameer, Mohan, Jayaram, Sneha, Laila, Meenakshi Chaudhary, Vaibhav, Yogi Babu, Premgi Amaren and Yugendran.

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