On Thursday, high drama prevailed in the city as popular singer and voice artiste Chinmayi entered the premises of the South Indian Cine, Television Artistes and Dubbing Artistes Union, popularly known as the Dubbing Union, to file her nomination for the coming election of officer-bearers.
She was stopped from entering the Union premises by a rival faction. The singer was accompanied by her lawyer Veeraraghavan.
After heated arguments, she was allowed to file her nomination.
Chinamyi, who was vocal in support of the #MeToo movement and was one of the few women from the south who took the lead in it, had made allegations of sexual harassment against veteran actor Radha Ravi and lyricist Vairamuthu. She will now be locking horns with Radha Ravi, the long-time president of the Union.
The elections are scheduled for February 15 and Chinmayi is being fielded by the Ramarajiyam Team formed during the last elections by members who oppose Radha Ravi.
Speaking to the media, the singer said “I was removed from the membership of the Dubbing Union headed by Radha Ravi in 2018 without any proper legal reasons. I appealed against the illegal removal at the City Civil Court and was granted an interim stay. This legally allowed me to continue working in the dubbing industry. I have all rights as a member of the Union. Recently, when they released the voters’ list, my name was absent from it for no reason. I was really shocked. This is basically contempt of court.”
She alleged that “if anyone asks about the irregularities in the union and raises any question, they get aggressive answers and are threatened with a ban. What is happening is not right.”
Referring to the Ramarajiyam group, she said it had been “fighting for the justice and welfare of the members for quite some time now”, and added that, “till my problems cropped up, I was not aware of the voice artistes' issues. I am sorry about that.”
When DC asked her about her prospects of winning, Chinmayi, who has dubbed for the likes of Trisha and Samantha, asserted that “As Ramarajiyam Ani garnered 45 per cent votes in the last elections, I am confident that we will win, marginally, this time.”
Referring to the drama at the Union premises, she said “These are new experiences for me. I have not come across people like this (who created the fracas) in my life.” The Dubbing Union has 2385 members in total, and of them, 1360 are eligible to vote. As per reports, the final list of candidates will be released on February 5th after scrutiny of nomination papers.
