Elsewhere in India, women have been alarmed by the speed with which men accused just a year ago in the #Metoo movement are being rehabilitated. Here, in Tamil Nadu, there’s hardly room to wonder because one needs to atleast be slapped on the wrist before being rehabilitated.
Lyricist Vairamuthu, who was named by multiple women last year in the #Metoo movement never as much as left the scene, to require a rehabilitation.
This is a very curious case that begs our attention. What makes Vairamuthu so crucial to kollywood that the industry didn’t even make a show of coming together to address the concerns of victims? Instead, kollywood ‘punished’ singer and dubbing artiste Chinmayi, behaving like the katta panchayattu we see in the cinemas, banishing and ostracising her for speaking out against him in the #MeToo movement.
Yesterday, we were all witness to Kamal Haasan sharing the stage with Vairamuthu at an event that had nothing to do with the latter. It was an event to mark 60 years of Kamal Haasan’s career in the Tamil industry, and to unveil the statue of the man he considers his guru (and one who made many films centred on the state of women in the family and society) K Balachander.
What message was Kamal Haasan, the actor who now also wants to be the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, sending to the women of his own industry and those of the state and the country by standing in solidarity with a man accused of being an aggressor?
It was a wrong precedent. And a concern that Kamal Haasan must address immediately. Especially if he wants to be seen as a credible politician and a voice of reason.
— From The Editor’s Desk
