“Even if you have been raped, if you file a complaint after a week, they [the police] will ask you to show the mark [of abuse]. But it would have healed within a week,” said Vichithra, one of the contestants on the seventh season of Bigg Boss Tamil, hosted by veteran actor Kamal Haasan. The statement was casually made in the heat of an argument in episode 36, after the eviction of a contestant named Pradeep Anthony. He was asked to leave the reality show after several participants alleged he was making them feel unsafe. But rather than express solidarity with the women who levelled allegations against Pradeep, some contestants accused them of ‘ganging up’ against him to ensure he is evicted. The conversations and fights that broke out in the reality show house after Pradeep’s eviction served as a reflection on how society at large treats survivors of sexual harassment, especially when the aggressor is famous and well-beloved.
The range of the allegations levelled against Pradeep included disrespectful behaviour, abusive language, threatening people with physical harm, and making women uncomfortable, among others. One contestant, Jovika, said she was afraid to sleep at night fearing Pradeep might harass her. Another contestant Poornima said he had made her feel ill at ease with his comments despite her saying she was not okay with them. Aishu, another contestant, alleged that Pradeep told her if she called him anna (elder brother in Tamil), he would nominate her to be evicted from the competition.
As allegations mounted against Pradeep, he was given a chance to explain himself before Kamal Haasan. The explanations he provided did not feel convincing and Kamal Haasan proceeded to take the contestants’ votes on whether Pradeep should stay in the competition or leave. As majority of the contestants voted to remove Pradeep from the show, he was promptly evicted. However, his eviction caused dissatisfaction amongst some contestants who believed he should have received a warning before being evicted.
As soon as Pradeep was evicted, Vichithra expressed her discontent and said he should have been given a warning. “Why did nobody raise it as an issue when it [the alleged harassment] happened? Why didn’t they inform me, am I not a senior person in this house? I have had chats with [Pradeep] late into the night and he would come to me first thing in the morning and ask for tea. I have never felt unsafe with him, so I will not accept this allegation. This will now follow him for the rest of his life,” she said.
Similar comments were made by a contestant named Dinesh, who claimed that the women who came out with allegations against Pradeep used it as a “trump card” to get him out of the contest. He alleged that they ganged up against him one day, instead of reporting incidents of harassment immediately after they happened.
‘Why complain now?’
At the time, Vichithra was widely criticised for speaking as if the onus falls on the survivor. In a later episode, she explained why she had urged women to complain sooner, opening up about her own horrific experience with a top actor during shoots for a 2001 film.
Read: Actor Vichitra says sexual harassment by a top hero made her quit film industry
A similar sentiment was expressed by veteran actor Sowcar Janaki in 2018, shortly after singer and dubbing artist Chinmayi Sripada came out with sexual harassment allegations against lyricist Vairamuthu. This led to several women coming out with similar allegations against Vairamuthu and other big names in the Tamil film industry, including Radha Ravi, Arjun Sarja, singer Karthik, and Susi Ganesan among others. In an interview, Janaki called it a “publicity stunt”, claiming there was no need to rake up what had happened in the past. In interviews she gave after raising the allegations, Chinmayi too was cornered with accusatory questions about her ‘delayed’ reaction.
Vijay TV and onus of responsibility
As allegations were being placed on Pradeep, it is pertinent to question if Vijay TV was not cognisant of his problematic actions and remarks. The contestants are under 24-hour surveillance and have mics attached to their bags they are expected to wear at all times. Even in the edited version that the audience saw, it was evident that Pradeep’s behaviour was inappropriate on several counts. So rather than wait for the contestants to raise complaints, the show’s producers could have pulled Pradeep up and sought accountability for his objectively questionable behaviour. It would have set an example, for the viewers as well, on how instances of workplace sexual harassment are to be dealt with.
In an episode that aired on October 6, Pradeep was heard telling Vichithra that the contestants who lose in a particular task must share their bed with a member of the opposite sex to make it “more fun”. He went on to add that if he had the chance to sleep next to Vichithra, he would. Even as Vichithra called him out, he was only seen to be laughing and said that he did not mean for it to be sexual. This snippet was not aired on television but was present on the OTT platform Disney Plus Hotstar where the show can be streamed.
Even if one were to assume that Pradeep did not make this remark with a sexual connotation, it is evident that Vichithra was not comfortable. Since the contestants share accommodation, it would have been prudent to at least have warned Pradeep to refrain from making such comments. But no such thing was done.
Pradeep had also made comments threatening physical harm on his fellow contestants. During heated arguments on episode 12, Pradeep threatened twice to break people’s nose and mouth if they refused to “speak properly”. In episode 31, Pradeep threatened to throw chilli powder on Cool Suresh as revenge, after Suresh declared him disqualified from a game. Yet, there was no warning from the ominous, all-seeing ‘Bigg Boss’. These issues too were brought up only on the day other contestants levelled allegations against Pradeep before he was evicted.
This is not the first instance of male contestants in Bigg Boss Tamil making women counterparts uncomfortable. Similar complaints have been raised against actor Bharani in season 1, when women on the show complained that he was getting unnecessarily physically close to them during games. Actor Ponnambalam was criticised for using derogatory language that was demeaning to women against Aishwarya Dutta in season 2. Even in season 5, Suresh Chakravarthy hit Sanam Shetty with a stick during a game and claimed it happened by accident, before later confessing to doing it on purpose. Sanam demanded that he be evicted, but no action was taken against him.
The star host’s ‘unyielding’ stand
As soon as Pradeep’s problematic behaviour was brought to his notice, Kamal Haasan emphasised that he would not tolerate any behaviour that makes women feel unsafe on the show. He added that “despite being a large corporation,” the TV channel too shared his views on women’s safety. “If the channel had not respected my views [on women’s safety] and arrived at a conclusion similar to mine, I would have left along with Pradeep. Women’s safety is of prime importance. This is my stance at home [the Bigg Boss house] and in the country. Those who fail to create a safe environment for women must be discarded,” the actor and host said after Pradeep’s eviction.
Kamal’s response was met with loud applause from the audience and the contestants in the show. His monologue, however, seemed to be more about his own moral and political righteousness, and granted little space to the complainants or their well-being.
In fact, a significant part of episode 42 was dedicated to Kamal scrutinising the statements made by some of the people who raised allegations against Pradeep. Kamal questioned them several times on the accuracy of their accusations, re-emphasising that it was the contestants’ choice to evict Pradeep and not his.
But Kamal also denounced several problematic statements that Vichithra and another contestant Archana made during the episode. For instance, when Archana questioned how a person could possibly feel unsafe in a house filled with cameras, Kamal pointed out that many women and even children have experienced sexual harassment at the hands of their own relatives, which often go unnoticed and/or deliberately ignored.
Notably, however, sections of the audience too seemed to enthusiastically support the views held by Archana and Vichithra.
‘Whose life is really ruined?’
Both Vichithra and Archana claimed that Pradeep’s “life has been ruined” due to the allegations and that they would “haunt him for the rest of his life.” But ever since Pradeep’s eviction, a section of social media users has come out in his support, even trending hashtags such as #JusticeforPradeep. Others began spamming comments in support of Pradeep in Kamal Haasan’s latest Instagram post, claiming the evicted contestant got the short end of the stick.
These posts and comments are indicative of the support a man continues to receive even after being accused of sexual harassment, while more often than not, the survivor comes under unfair scrutiny and criticism for speaking out. In the case of Pradeep, several women who came forward with allegations speculated that when he realised he was a favourite among the audience, he became overconfident that no harm would befall him even if he commits a few misdemeanours. What more, a significant part of the audience did seem to side with him despite the nature of the allegations levelled against him.
In the heat of the moment, Archana also blamed Maya, Jovika, and Poornima for “using the woman card” to get Pradeep evicted. All three contestants who expressed vocal support for Pradeep questioned whether the women had ulterior motives for raising allegations against him. The women’s lived experiences were dismissed and the focus was shifted to the aggressor and his supposed innocence. After all, why would someone come out with allegations of sexual harassment against a popular, widely beloved man if not to tarnish their reputation and ‘ruin’ their lives, they seemed to ask.
This pattern of the aggressor facing little to no consequence, while the survivor comes under unwarranted criticism and judgement, can be observed at a systemic level in Tamil society. Even though several women have come out with allegations against Vairamuthu, for instance, he is yet to face any serious or long-term consequences. He continues to be invited to events and felicitated by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin and several politicians across parties on his birthday and at award ceremonies. Others such as Arjun, Radha Ravi, and John Vijay too have continued to act in films and be actively involved in public life despite the allegations. Chinmayi, meanwhile, was put under a shadow ban, losing out on several singing and dubbing opportunities shortly after she came out with her allegations.
Even when Indian wrestlers were protesting against the former President of Wrestlers Federation of India (WFI) Brij Bhushan for sexually assaulting them, several sections of society chose to question the survivor’s motives over the aggressor’s actions. Some called it a ‘publicity stunt’ while others alleged that Opposition parties had paid off the survivors to make ‘fake’ claims to ruin the aggressors’ reputations. Either way, in almost every case where sexual harassment allegations were levelled against a public figure, quick steps seemed to have been taken to protect their reputation instead of ensuring justice for the survivor.
Perhaps, if the TV channel’s management, ‘Bigg Boss’, or Kamal Haasan had intervened and established that women’s safety is uncompromisable and any violation would result in immediate elimination, contestants such as Pradeep would be more discerning with their words and actions. But for a show that thrives on conflict and controversy — feeding off, and in turn nurturing, a vocal fanbase that celebrates an aggressive brand of masculinity over all else — it is apparently preferable to let misogyny run wild.
Editor's note: his article has been edited to include Vichithra's statement regarding her experience of sexual harassment in the film industry.