The #MeToo movement has certainly hit several industries by storm especially the film industry as more and more women are coming out in the open sharing their 'horrific’ stories.
While the South Indian film industry has largely remained silent on the #MeTooIndia movement with only a few sharing their ordeals, the Kannada film industry has witnessed its first confessions with biggest revelations on the #MeToo movement.
Actress Sangeetha Bhat of the fame of Preethi Geethi Ityadi, Eradane Sala and the recent 'Dayavittu Gamanisi’, has come out in the open sharing her ordeals during her ten year old career in the film industry.The actress has announced that she has quit the film industry (for good) while making it clear that she is not telling her stories to gain sympathy or seek publicity or to throw allegations against the ones who have hurt her, but to let everyone know on she has decided to quit the film industry.
The actress who has penned a three page letter reveals some of the horrific incidents which she had to go through in her career as an actress. She has also revealed that she is married and hid it to save her career.
She starts saying that she lost her father at an young age when she was in her tenth standard, and this is when she decided to get into entertainment industry to support herself and her mother.
She goes onto share that in the year 2008, when she first auditioned for a Kannada movie produced by an ex husband of a serial artiste, the casting director of the film took her in her car and in the midway he sexually misbehaved with her. She was just 15 then! Further, she shares the sexual harassment by the director of the same movie which never never went on floors.
In 2009, she says a director and two assistant directors came drunk to her home in pretext of having home-cooked food which left her and her mother traumatised. She says, they had to rush to the terrace, hiding themselves until they left home. The film never got released, she says.
That's not all, in 2010, the actress reveals that a woman hairdresser sexually misbehaved with her and for resisting it she took revenge by referring her name to a famous director (whose name recently cropped up in casting couch. His daughter is also an actress). The director she says asked her to come to her hotel room directly while referring to the hairdresser!
Further, a producer who made hit police film also sexually harassed her, writes the actress, adding the ordeal about a Kannada director who asked her to send photos of her in whichever dress she is for his inspiration.
She has even revealed the trauma she went through while working for a Tamil movie. And, in 2017 when she was working in a remake of a Telugu film in Kannada which a star actor was playing the lead, the actress reveals that he called her over the phone and asked her to sleep with her, and even boasted about his sex life with numerous actresses. Sangeetha says she hung up saying she is in a relationship. She also adds that she felt disgusted as she had grown up watching the star actor's films.
Before, wrapping it up, she also take about the director of the remake file. Which was eventually unceremoniously shelved, misbehaved with her.She signs off saying that she has quit the industry, but acting being her passion, she will continue to do short stories and theatre.
