Tamil Nadu

Radha Ravi slut shames Nayanthara on stage, Tamil industry ignores as usual

Radha Ravi was speaking at an event to launch the trailer of a Nayanthara film – an event that she herself did not attend, and apparently didn’t even know about.

Written by : Priyanka Thirumurthy

Everyday misogynist and popular potty mouth Radha Ravi was given an opportunity to speak on a stage once again for some strange reason, and of course, the actor grabbed the chance to slut shame an actor – this time, Lady Superstar Nayanthara. Radha Ravi was speaking at the launch of the trailer of Nayanthara’s film Kolaiyuthir Kaalam.

“Nayanthara acts as a ghost, and then she goes on to act as Sita as well. She acts as Sita! Earlier, to play the role of a goddess, they would look for [someone like] KR Vijaya. Now, anyone can be cast to play a goddess. They can cast someone who you want to pray to when you look at them, they can also cast someone you want to call towards you when you see them!” he said, making a sexually charged comment to slut shame the top actor.

Nayanthara was neither present at the event, nor did she know such an event was being conducted, according to her partner and director Vignesh Shivn.

In the same speech, Radha Ravi also cracked what he believed was a joke on the Pollachi sexual assault and extortion saga. “What is the difference between a big film and a small film? If you rape one girl at once, it is a small film. If you rape 40 people at once, like in Pollachi, it is a big film,” he said.

While the comments were reportedly made on Saturday, as of Sunday at the time of writing this article, no top actor, director, producer or any other member of the Tamil film fraternity has condemned Radha Ravi’s statement.

Radha Ravi’s speech was brought to light by singer Chinmayi, who was banned from the TN Dubbing Union headed by Radha Ravi after she spoke out against lyricist Vairamuthu for sexual harassment. The singer said on Twitter, “Been waiting since yesterday for *some* sort of  condemnation from the male actor fraternity in Tamil Nadu since yesterday. In this video Radha Ravi, President, TN Dubbing Union openly slut shames a female actor at HER movie’s trailer launch. And not. a. word from anyone. Yet.”

Nayanthara, one of the most successful female stars in the industry, has been headlining several films in the last few years. Her partner, director Vignesh Shivn, took to Twitter to condemn Radha Ravi’s attack on her, too, and spoke out against the silence of the Tamil film fraternity.

“Clueless and helpless cos no one will support or do anything or take any action against that filthy piece of sh*t coming from a legendary family .. he keeps doing this to seek attention! Brainless! Sad to see audience laughing & clapping for his filthy comments!” Vignesh wrote.

“None of us had any idea that this event was going to take place for an incomplete film .. the actual producers or directors left the film [a] few years back I guess! Inappropriate event with unnecessary people sitting and knowing not what to speak! If this is called promoting a movie, then it’s good to stay away from such events which don’t have any need but just to give opportunities like this for jobless people to vomit some senseless, useless stuff on stage!  Anyways no one from Nadigar sangam or any sangam will take any action against him,” the director said.

Unsurprisingly, this is hardly the first time Radha Ravi has made derogatory, sexist, or insensitive statements in a public forum. In March 2017, he mocked children with disabilities during a political speech. (Radha Ravi is a member of the DMK.) And when he was pulled up for it, he refused to apologise because he’s ‘not the type’.

In an interview the year before, he said, “An artiste asked a woman – Radha Ravi called you to his office, didn’t he? He said he’s calling you for a movie and called you home didn’t he? There is nothing wrong with Radha Ravi calling women to his office. There’s nothing wrong if a man calls women to his office. There is something wrong if a man calls men to his office.”

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