Chennai: In the wake of singer Chinmayi's accusing lyricist Vairamuthu of harassing women, more victims have been gathering courage to come out and name the offenders. The latest one to have joined the Kollywood list is Mumbai based photographer Pretika Menon who has accused veteran actor, filmmaker and producer Thiagarajan of sexual misbehaviour, while shooting for Ponnar Shankar which featured his son Prashanth in dual roles.
In her long Facebook post, Pretika revealed how she was abused and played around with during the shoot. She said that Thiagarajan tried to visit her hotel room thrice on the same night, spoiling her sleep and leaving her 'scared for her life and body'.
However, Thiagarajan refutes this as a baseless allegation and said he would be filing a defamation case against her soon.
Speaking to DC, Thiagarajan said, "I have been in the industry for more than 40 years and this girl (Pretika) has put my reputation at stake just like that with false accusations. She has put me to lot of shame! I am going to take legal action on her but I am not able to locate where she is now."
Explaining more on the issue as to how Pretika was furnishing incorrect details, Thiagarajan said, "The day she said I reportedly knocked at her door was baseless, because I was shooting the whole night from the previous evening till the next morning, Also, she has mentioned the shooting took place at an erected set near Coimbatore. Actually, we shot in an actual fort called Ranjankudi in Perambalur for a war sequence, which involved 2,000 junior artistes playing soldiers. And the shoot was on continuously for three days from 6 pm to the next morning. Nasser, Lakshmi Ramakrishnan and Ponvannan among other actors were also there. I had introduced two girls Miss India pageant winners Pooja Chopra and Divya Parameshwaran as heroines. "
He claims that he maintains strict discipline during the shoots and Ponnar Shankar was no different. "No one smokes or wastes time chatting on my sets. So, her accusations are totally false. I am not that desperate to do such a thing in a film whose story was written by the then CM Kalaignar Karunanidhi."
