Radha Ravi gets the boot! Show of support for Nayanthara

Following actor Radha Ravi’s derogatory remarks against actress Nayanthara at the launch of her forthcoming film Kolaiyuthir Kaalamon, where he compared her to a woman of easy virtue, the DMK promptly suspended him for bringing disrepute to the party and defying party discipline.

Nayanthara’s fiancé and filmmaker Vignesh Shivan slammed the actor for his crude speech in a series of posts on his social media handle, in which he tagged DMK chief M K Stalin and Kanimozhi.

“@mkstalin sir & @KanimozhiDMK Madame, both respected leaders have voiced vociferously against Pollachi Sexual Harassment case. Please, why don’t you take stringent action against male chauvinist, crass sexist & bully Mr. Radha Ravi? Kindly acknowledge and take action (sic),” he tweeted.

DMK Party chief Stalin responded by saying that the party upholds the rights of women and that Ravi’s views about female movie actors are “unacceptable”. He also warned his party cadres and leaders from speaking ill about women.

Meanwhile, Vishal, Nadigar Sangam General Secretary and Tamil Film Producers Council President, who is currently shooting in Turkey for his upcoming film, condemned the veteran actor for his personal attack on Nayanthara while KJR Studios, which has made movies with the actress like Aramm and Airaa and distributed Viswasam, also issued a statement.

“We sincerely condemn Mr #RadhaRavi and will not cast him in any of our films. We will strongly advise our associates and friends in the industry not to cast him either,” they wrote.

Faced with heavy backlash from all quarters, Radha Ravi finally apologised for his comments, but argued that he had been misunderstood. He added that he was willing to meet Nayan and Vignesh in person to explain his stance and offered to quit the DMK if it was getting affected because of him.

Taapsee Pannu, who shared screen space with Nayan in Arrambam, spoke in support of the actress. “This is disgusting beyond words. If this is how he is talking about one of the strongest actresses of the industry, I can only wonder what he might have to say about others,” she said.

However, actor Siddharth chose to voice a different opinion on the subject, indirectly alluding that Nayanthara was silent during the #MeToo movement. He tweeted, “I was shocked that my entire fraternity was either silent or cynical about the #MeToo movement. If you speak up only when your own are affected, it’s not called bravery.”

Vignesh Shivan was quick to react and defended Nayan by putting out a statement tagging Siddharth. “One’s silence on social media does not mean that they are not supporting an issue,” he wrote, adding, “Nayanthara has always stood for the safety and welfare of women.”