Sexual harassment allegations return to haunt Tollywood

Hyderabad, Sep 18 (IANS) After the Malayalam film industry, the ‘Mee Too’ storm now appears to be rocking the Telugu film industry following allegations of rape against top choreographer Jani Master by a female colleague and actor Poonam Kaur urging the Movie Artists Association (MAA) to address a complaint she filed earlier against renowned director Trivikram Srinivas.

Even as the Cyberabad police stepped up the probe into the rape case booked against Jani Master, Poonam Kaur’s post on X added another twist to the ongoing debate on the allegations of sexual harassment in the film industry.

“Had maa association taken complaint on trivikram Srinivas, I and many wouldn’t have had the political suffering , I was rather silently ignored , I had given a call tand then complaint to the heads , I want industry big wigs to question Director Trivikram,” her post read.

Neither Trivikram nor MAA, the apex body of Tollywood, have reacted to the demand by Poonam Kaur, who has worked in Telugu, Tamil, and Malayalam films.

The actor, however, has not specified the nature of her complaint.

This has come close on the heels of a police case booked against national award-winning choreographer Jani Master on allegations of sexual assault by a 21-year-old female choreographer. The police continued their probe into the allegations by the woman that Jani Master sexually assaulted her multiple times. The police, who have recorded the statement of the complainant, are likely to issue a notice to the accused to appear before it for questioning.

The Raidurgam police of Cyberabad on September 15 booked a zero First Information Report (FIR) against Jani Master. Subsequently, the FIR was transferred to Narsingi Police Station, which registered a case and took up an investigation.

Jani Master has been booked for rape and criminal intimidation.

The complainant told police that came in contact with the choreographer in 2017 and she became an assistant to him in 2019. As the complainant has claimed he sexually assaulted her when she was a minor, the police may invoke sections relating to the Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act after a preliminary inquiry.

She alleged that Jani sexually assaulted her multiple times during their shoots in different cities, including Chennai, Mumbai, and Hyderabad. The victim alleged that Jani Master sexually assaulted her once when they had gone to Mumbai. He had allegedly that he raped her in a shooting vehicle and threatened her against revealing this to anyone. She also claimed that he assaulted her at her residence in Narsingi several times.

The woman also told police that she faced a threat to her life from the choreographer, and on August 28, she found a suspicious parcel in front of her residence with “this is your last shooting” written on it. She said the accused had threatened to make sure that she did not get any work opportunities.

Meanwhile, the Telugu Film Chamber of Commerce (TFCC) has suspended Jani Master from his post as President of the Telugu Film & TV Dancers & Dance Directors Association until the inquiry is complete. The Sexual Harassment Redressal Panel of the TFCC has received the complaint from the female choreographer, who is a member of the association. A committee has been constituted to look into the case.

TFCC’s Honorary Secretary K. L. Damodar Prasad said in a statement that the inquiry is in process.

The committee, in its interim report, recommended that the post of the male choreographer as the President of the Association be put in abeyance until the inquiry is completed.

Tammareddy Bharadwaja, Suchitra Chandrabose, Vivek Kuchibhotla and Pragati Mahadevi are the internal members of the inquiry committee. Social worker and media expert Ramalaklshmi Medapati and advocate and POSH expert Kavya Mandava are the external members.

This is not the first time that, Tollywood is witnessing allegations of sexual harassment. The film industry considered the second biggest in the country after Bollywood, was rocked by similar allegations during the Me Too movement of 2018.

Television anchor-turned-actor Sri Reddy had staged a semi-nude protest outside the office of the Telugu Film Chamber of Commerce in Hyderabad to expose the prevalence of sexual harassment in Tollywood.

The Women and Transgender Organisations Joint Action Committee (WTOJAC) has moved the High Court seeking a probe into the exploitation of women in the entertainment industry. The state government had constituted a high-level committee comprising police officials, film producers, and directors in April 2019. Headed by then chairman of the Telangana State Film Development Corporation (TSFDC) Ram Mohan, the high-level committee formed a sub-committee to make recommendations to frame guidelines to curtail sexual harassment in the workplace.

However, the report of the sub-committee was never made public.

–IANS

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