Director, technicians demand sexual favours from women artists in Tamil TV industry, alleges Padmini
Chennai: As the Malayalam film industry faces intense scrutiny amid allegations of sexual abuse, popular actor and television producer Kutti Padmini has now brought similar accusations to light within the Tamil television industry.
In an interview with NDTV, Padmini revealed that directors and technicians in the Tamil television industry often demand sexual favours from female artists. She noted that many women do not speak out about these abuses because proving sexual harassment can be difficult. Furtermore, Padmini also alleged that many women "have committed suicide" over it. "This is a profession like any other—doctors, lawyers, IT person. Why it has to be a flesh trade? It is very wrong," she asserted.
Padmini highlighted the negative repercussions faced by those who come forward with complaints. She pointed out that they are often blacklisted by the industry, citing the examples of singer Chinmayi and actor Sri Reddy. Chinmayi faced a ban imposed by actor Radha Ravi after she supported individuals who had accused him, with the ban justified on the grounds of her not renewing her membership. Similarly, Sri Reddy was denied a membership card for the actors' association, effectively preventing her from working in television serials.
Padmini also noted that investigations into sexual harassment allegations within Tamil cinema have made little progress. She criticised statements from figures like actor-turned-politician Suresh Gopi, who has reportedly questioned the availability of proof. "How can anyone provide proof? They can do lie-detector test like the CBI is doing," she suggested.
Kutti Padmini also shared that she experienced sexual harassment as a child artist. "I was thrown out of a Hindi film when my mom raised the issue," she said, highlighting the challenges in gathering evidence against perpetrators.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
