Radha Ravi Slammed For Misogynistic Remarks Against Nayanthara, Tamil Film Fraternity Boycotts the Actor

Chennai: Hours after Radha Ravi, actor and president of the Tamil Nadu Dubbing Union, was slammed by a section of the Tamil film fraternity for his ‘sexist and slut-shaming’ remarks against actress Nayanthara, Ravi claimed that his statement was misconstrued.

“Nayanthara is a good friend of mine. I didn’t make such statements against her. If she is hurt, I apologise to her. My statements were misinterpreted,” Ravi told News18 on Monday.

Ravi was also temporarily sacked from the DMK from the party for his derogatory remarks. The actor says he is ready to give clarification to the party.

“I don’t know the reason behind DMK’s decision to sack me from the party. I came to know from actor Vagai Chandrasekhar that the reason is my statements against Nayanthara. I will quit the party if I have damaged the image of the party. My statements were twisted for political gains.”

On Saturday, Ravi had passed a remark on Nayanthara during the trailer launch of her upcoming Tamil film "Kolayuthir Kaalam". His comment earned a lot of backlash on social media after his speech clip got circulated and he was also slammed by actor Varalaxmi Sarath Kumar and filmmaker Vignesh Shivn. Well-known singer and dubbing artiste Chinmayi Sripaada was among the first to call out Ravi's insensitive comments on Nayanthara.

"Nayanthara has acted as ghost as well as goddess Sita. Earlier, K.R. Vijaya was the most popular choice to play the role of goddess. Today, anyone can be cast to play a goddess. They can cast someone who you want to pray to when you look at them, they can also cast someone you want to call towards you when you see them," Ravi had said.

The DMK said Ravi's remarks brought disrepute to the party. DMK president M.K. Stalin said the party upholds the rights of women and Ravi's views about the female movie actors was unacceptable and strongly condemnable.

The South India Artistes' Association also issued a statement condemning actor Radha Ravi for his statements.

NadigarSangam PrNews tweeted: “#SIAA #NadigarSangam expresses his condemnation upon actor #Radharavi for his degrading mark of speech recently that has severely hurt the sentiments. @actornasser @VishalKOfficial @Karthi_Offl

Nayanthara questioned the South Indian Artistes' Association if it will set up the Internal Complaints Committee.

"My humble question to the South Indian Artistes' Association(Nadigar Sangam):- Will you set up the Internal Complaints Committee as per the Honourable Supreme Court's dictum and commence an internal inquiry as per Vishakha Guidelines???."

"As long as the audience encourage sexist remarks, speakers like Mr. Radha Ravi will continue to thrive on misogyny and cracking of denigrating jokes against women. I strongly urge well intentioned citizens and my beloved fans to deeply discourage the behaviour of the likes of Mr Radha Ravi. Not withstanding the aforesaid advisory, through this statement I would like to strongly register my condemnation and protest against the derogatory speeches made by Mr. Radha Ravi against women and children in general and me in specific."

The actress said she would continue to do multifaceted roles of “Sita, ghost, Goddess, friend, wife, lover, so on and so forth” and continue to entertain her fans.

After his speech got much attention on social media and the actor was slammed from all corners, filmmakers and studios vowed to not work with him ever. Joining the outrage, filmmaker Milind Rau called the actor's behaviour disgusting. "This is disgusting behaviour! I personally take a stand that I will never work with this misogynistic person ever again," he tweeted.

In strong retaliation, KJR studios also issued a statement stating that the studio will not work with the actor in its future projects.

Actress Taapsee Pannu also came out in support of Nayanthara.

Singer Chinmayi Sreeparda also condemned the comments of Radha Ravi.

Calling it a sad day and supporting the singer for rasing her her voice Bollywood actress Swara Bhasker wrote,"A sad and distressing reminder of the sickeningly consistent occurrence that women who call out & report sexual harassment at the workplace do so at the cost of their careers.. enough is enough! #TimeToChange #TimesUp Go @Chinmayi may your lovely voice ring loud, clear & true."

Varalaxmi wrote on her Twitter page: "Shaming women, making offensive jokes on women (which they think is not offensive) degrading women, using women as eye candy have all become a part of this film industry thanks to our previous generations of women and men who didn't react and instead thought it was ok. This is our state."

She went on to say if all the women in the film fraternity stood up with Chinmayi during 'MeToo', things would have changed. "Silence is not going to get us anywhere. Every single woman has to stand up." Varalaxmi also said that most film unions and associations are run by "male chauvinists".

"They will never act on anything and jus act like they support women, when in reality each of them has in one way or other contributed to this situation of women being degraded either in their reel or real lives," she said.

(With inputs from IANS)