Yet another actress has opened up about the disrespect she has received because of being a woman in the film industry. Varalaxmi Sarathkumar has posted on her social media page about a cheap incident that took place when she attended a meeting with a popular TV channel’s programming head.

 

''Writing this after spending 2 days debating whether or not to do so. In today's world of social media, even genuine words spoken are judged unfairly and I did not want that to happen. In the end, I strongly felt it necessary to share this incident.

 

I was in a meeting with the programming head of a leading TV channel. Towards the end of the half hour meeting, he asked me "so... When can we meet outside?" to which I replied "regarding some other work?" His answer (said with a smug smile like it was the norm) "no no! Not work... For other things". I hide my shock and anger and tell him "Sorry! Please leave." His last word on the topic was "So... That's all?" and he smiled and walked away.

 

A common reaction from people, both in the industry and outside when they hear things like this is to say "Film industry is like this. You knew so when you joined. Why complain now or act surprised?" My response is this. I didn't come to the industry to be treated like a piece of meat or to follow the standards of exploitation of women already practiced. I love acting. It's my profession of choice. I work hard and I'm good at my work. I certainly do not want to choose either option of 'Put up with it or quit'.

 

As a woman I now see only one choice. To resist and to speak out. The important choices have to presented to the men. 'Either stop disrespecting women or GET OUT!'

 

I am an actress. It does not mean that just because I lead a glamorous life on screen, that I deserve to be spoken with disrespect. It's my life, my body and my wish. No man should assume he can get away with disrespecting me. Those who believe this is a minor incident and also that nothing happened in the end so it's unnecessary should understand that this is the tip of the iceberg.And for those of you asking about the identity of the man, this is not the place and time for it as it will deviate from the bigger issue at hand. It may be a small incident that fortunately ended safely for me but it helps me to shed light on a very important topic.

 

Instead of lecturing women on what to wear, how to speak, and how to behave appropriately, how about we start by telling men to stop thinking with their genitals, and start looking at a woman as strong, free, capable and equal human being. Teach the men to be better people. Every parent needs to start this at home.

 

Its not just the film industry, I know that harassment against women happens across industries, economic strata, cultures and age. It is an issue that is inbred in our male dominated society where women are objectified and treated as less than equal - a commodity that can be dealt with as they please.

 

The incidents of rape, molestation, manhandling and disrespect to women are rising at alarming rates. Our education is failing us. I am not a victim and I don't intend to play one. I am speaking out on behalf of all the girls who are not speaking out due to fear. Fear of men and fear that they will be punished as women for speaking out.

 

If we don't act now #SafetyForWomen will be just a dream and we will never remove the word #rape from our society.

 

I will not stay silent. I urge all my sisters and friends to do the same. You are not alone. #BeSafe #BeBrave #BEaWOMAN''

 

Hats off to Varalaxmi for opening up bravely.

The official announcement regarding Jyothika's next is out, and she will be collaborating with the maverick director Bala for this yet-to-be-titled film.

 

The film will be jointly produced by EON Studios and Bala's B Studios for which the shoot is expected to start from March 1. A leading big star is expected to play the film's male lead.

 

More details on this project are expected to come in the following days. An interesting combination to watch out for.

 

We are not sure if Jyothika had opted out of Vijay 61 due to this project. Let us wait for an official word about this.

Vivegam, the Ajith starrer and Siva directorial, is eagerly awaited and the film is fast nearing completion.

 

Director Siva, in a college function, had revealed some exciting information about the film. He stated, "Vivegam will be an out and out action movie which will satisfy all. It is a high budget movie and I took enough time and paid special attention to the screenplay. There would be another look of Ajith coming soon; this will even be before the release of the teaser and the trailer. There is one more schedule left and we will soon be leaving for Bulgaria".

 

On Ajith's chiseled look, Siva said, "It's not VFX, Thala worked hard to get that look".

 

Wow! That sure sounds exciting for all the Ajith fans out there!

Dhanush is a busy man who is handling many projects simultaneously including VIP 2, Power Paandi, ENPT, Karthik Subbaraj project and Vada Chennai is said to be in talks for one more interesting project.

 

He will be teaming up with director R.S.Durai Senthilkumar for a new film. When we got in touch with the Kodi director about this he said, "Yes, my next is with Dhanush sir. The project is in its very early stages and an official announcement regarding this can be expected in another two months of time."

 

Durai's first two films were produced by Dhanush, while his third film, Kodi featured him as an actor. It is interesting to see the talented director associating with Dhanush yet again for his fourth directorial.

Suriya who is fresh from the success of Si3 is busy with the shooting of his next film Thaana Serndha Koottam. Post TSK, Suriya would be joining hands with Selvaraghavan for a project to be bankrolled by SR Prabhu’s Dream Warrior Pictures.

 

Our sources have informed us that Rakul Preet Singh is apparently in talks to play Suriya’s lady love in this ambitious venture. An official word regarding the same is awaited. It must be noted that Rakul Preet is the heroine of Suriya's younger brother Karthi’s upcoming film Dheeran Adhigaram Ondru as well.

We had reported long back that Trisha is likely to play a pivotal role in Vikram’s cop franchise Saamy 2. Now the ‘Ghilli’ actress has officially confirmed her presence in the film through a tweet which reads, “Wudnt call it a circle but looks like I'm back to where I started😉 #SAAMY2 #onboard #doubletheaction #doublethelove #excited #Trish62. My 1st superstar hero VIKRAM n HARI sir for the 3rd time❤️,to be produced by Mr.SHIBU THAMEEN n d very talented Mr.HARRIS JAYARAJ #yesvrback"

 

Her tweet says ‘Double the action’, ‘double the love’. Looks like she will have an extensive role in the film just like the previous edition of Saamy. We will have to wait and see if Saamy 2 has another heroine or not. Stay tuned for more updates!

Akhil Akkineni, son of Amala and Nagarjuna, got recently engaged to Shriya Bhupal, granddaughter of industrialist GVK Reddy in a grand function. The wedding was to take place in Italy in May.

 

According to various Telugu media reports, the wedding of Akhil and Shriya, has been called off. The reasons are not known, but apparently, the guests who had booked the tickets to go to Italy were asked to cancel it.

 

Akhil Akkineni has signed his next to be directed by Vikram K Kumar.

For the past few days, Twitter was flooding with controversial tweets from the singer, RJ and actress Suchitra Karthik Kumar's official handle. The tweets were sarcastic shots fired on Dhanush and some other celebrities. This left her followers, and everybody else confused if her account was hacked.

 

Today, after almost a week, her husband Karthik Kumar who is also a stand-up comedian and actor has finally given a clarification on the whole issue. He has taken to his social media page to clear the air by saying, ''Good morning. The last few days have been very disturbing for us as a family as Suchi's twitter account was hacked. Today we have retrieved her account. All the tweets published last few days were not by Suchi and are completely false. I personally apologise to all the people concerned as I understand the stress it would have caused them. I request the media to show sensitivity and not sensationalise this. Thank you all for the support.''

 

**Social media post is not spell-checked

A couple of days ago, there were reports saying that distributors have apparently given a red card to all big hero films. Then those reports were claimed to be false. To gain more inputs on what the distributors have decided, we got in touch with one of the most experienced distributors in Tamil Nadu, Tiruppur Subramaniam for an extensive interview.

 

“Let’s forget about the past. Starting from Kabali to Thodari, Kodi, Kaashmora, Bogan, Bairavaa and Singam 3, these are big hero films that have been released over the past 8 months; all these films were at least a 25 to 50% loss to the distributors.

 

But the producers do not reveal the true facts about their film’s box office outcome. Say for example Thanu’s Kabali, you would have seen advertisements for the film saying 50 days, 100 days or even 200 days in Mani Impala theatre in Madurai. Do you really think that Kabali had a successful run in theatres for 200 days? Definitely not.

 

To be more precise, if you come out of Chennai city, no movie runs for more than 3 weeks. Even in Chennai city, the distributors forcefully screen a film to satisfy these big heroes. Because the hero is located in Chennai and when he wakes up in the morning, he wants to see the posters of Bairavaa. So these producers advertise for a big star film for 100 days and cheat the audience. But these bogus advertisements camouflage the reality from the eyes of all these big heroes. They do not know what their actual market is.

 

If Rajinikanth had known that Kabali was a failure, he wouldn’t have given his call sheet again to Ranjith. But what Thanu tells Rajini sir is that Kabali ran for 200 days and had collected more than any other films in India. Rajinikanth is a parrot locked inside a golden cage and none of us could explain him the real trade facts about his films.

 

This was not the case back in those days. Rajinikanth used to call us and inquire about how the film was performing and even asked us for suggestions. But, the past two years, he has been avoiding us. As a result, he gets misled by his producers.

 

We have not given any red card to all these actors. Distributor Federation will not stop anyone from acquiring any big hero's films or stop the screening of any film. But if these 7 big heroes do a film, let them release it on their own. Only then they will know the real collection of a film. They can hold a success party then. These actors are wealthy enough to distribute their films on their own all over Tamil Nadu.

 

We are not stopping anyone from buying a film but, no one from the Federation is ready to buy. If none of us buy, the actors have no option but to release it by themselves. The actors could enjoy the so-called 300 crores all by themselves. Kabali hero, Bairavaa hero, Kodi hero, Kaashmora hero, Singam 3 hero, Bogan hero can release their films on their own to know the actual facts. Earn a lot and celebrate your success. This is our decision."

A few days back we had reported that Gautham Menon is likely to produce Dhuruvangal Pattinaaru director Karthick Naren’s next crime thriller film Naragasooran.

 

Now we have some official word from the man himself. GVM has just tweeted that he will be a part of Naragasooran. Here goes his tweet, “Naragasooran, @karthicknaren_M - Happy to be a chapter in the journey of a brilliant young filmmaker!”

 

However, he has not disclosed if he is going to produce the film or not. When we checked with Karthick Naren, he told Gautham Menon is officially on board and he will be co-producing the film.

 

*GVM's tweet is not spell-checked!