A popular woman actor from the Kannada film industry has alleged that she was a victim of "the way women are objectified by certain kind of men in the industry."
The actor, who has acted in movies like Rangitaranga, has accused producer K Suresh of maligning her name by raising "baseless" allegations that show her character in poor light.
Taking to Twitter on Sunday, the actor, who is currently shooting for Anup Bhandari's Rajaratha, alleged mistreatment on the sets of Suresh's upcoming film "Raju Kannada Medium."
In the note titled "Are women safe in the film industry", actor Avantika says that she decided to call out the incident after coming across an article, that she claims, was published with "fabricated content provided by Suresh."
I hope no other girl has to go through this.............. pic.twitter.com/JX4roj1WcN
— Avantika Shetty (@avantikashetty1) June 3, 2017
Elaborating on the incident, Avantika writes:
"The problem started from the very first day of the schedule of the film when I sensed that it wasn't my performance the producer and the director really bothered about."
The matter took a bad turn towards the end of the shoot, Avantika says.
"I had almost completed the film and a very small portion which was to be shot in Bangkok was left. The next thing I know, I was unceremoniously asked to leave back to Mumbai citing my average performance in the film as the reason, which surprisingly came up after I asked them about a bounced cheque," Avantika writes.
Having left with no other option, Avantika says that she has approached the honourable court in Karnataka to resolve the issue. She also added that her letter to Karnataka Film Chamber went unanswered.
However, Chamber vice-president Umesh Banakar told The Times of India that the chamber hasn't got a formal complaint from Avantika on the matter.
"But taking note of media reports, the chamber has asked producer K A Suresh to appear before the Chamber on Monday. We will examine the agreement signed between him and Avanthika, and hear his side of the story. If he has any grievance to be addressed, we may have to call Avanthika too. In any case, I hope the issue will be settled amicably," he was quoted as saying.
While actors can approach Kannada Film Artistes Association with their greivances that will then be forwarded to the Film Chamber, Rockline Venkatesh, secretary , Kannada Film Artistes Association told TOI that Avantika was not a member of the association.