Ever since singers including Chinmayi and Bhuvana Seshan outed lyricist Vairamuthu, a long-time collaborator of AR Rahman, as a sexual predator, accusing him of using Rahman’s name to lure unsuspecting women and then threatening to sabotage their careers, everyone’s been waiting for the famed composer to respond to the allegations.
A couple of days ago, his sister AR Reihana, revealed that rumours about the lyricist’s antics had been doing the rounds for a while, and now, Rahman himself has made it clear that he strongly believes in creating a safe creative space.
In a statement, he writes, “Been observing the #MeToo movement. Some of the names have shocked me. Both the victims and their perpetrators! I would love to see our industry become cleaner and respectful of women. More power to all the victims coming forward!” is how he put out his feelings and wishes. “In all my endeavours, my team and I are committed to creating an environment where everyone finds a safe creative space to bring their best, evolve, and succeed. The social media offers great freedom for victims to speak up, however we should be careful in creating a new Internet justice system, in case it’s misused,” he continued.
Like Rahman, actors Kamal Haasan and Rajinikanth have also spoken out about the possibility of the #MeToo movement being misused. And some Kollywood men including Vairamuthu and Thiagarajan, have used exactly that as an argument to respond to the allegations levelled against them. Only time will tell if these alleged predators face any long-term consequences.
