The “Me too” movement which was started out by Tarana Burke, an American social activist against the harassment taken place against women has had widespread response from all over the world. This movement recently had recently gained the headline when allegations were reported against Harvey Wenstein, a former film producer from America. This movement has had response in India too with several ladies and some celebrities too coming out to speak about the harassment they had faced in their lives. This can bee seen in both a positive and negative way, the positive outlook is that the women who were earlier silently suffering he harassment are now speaking out for themselves and standing up against the attackers, the sad part is that such crimes are continuing to occur even now.
This movement has also been seen in the Telegu industry, a few of the actresses had made allegations on some Tollywood stars. The media did not give much importance to this subject and thus it did not grab the people’s attention. The Tollywood heroines are making use of social media to raise their concerns when the media is afraid to show the dark side of the perpetrators.
Some Incidents
Radhika Apte:
Recently Radika Apte had spoken out against harassment she has faced by a prominent Tollywood artist on one of her movie shoots. She said that when she stood up for herself , it lead to him stop misbehaving with her.
Kasthuri:
Yesteryears actress Kasthuri had also come out with allegations against the harassment she had faced in Tollywood. She had explicitly pointed out to a actor turned politician and how he had her removed from two movies for standing up against him.
Sree Reddy:
Sree Reddy is also another prominent actress who came out with the allegations in the Tollywood industry. She made allegations against several of the prominent Tollywood actors. She spoke of the casting couch which was prevalent in the industry. Her movement lost its response when she used cuss words after losing her control publicly and this led to the media later avoiding her. It was believed that there was some political motivation in her actions and thus this led to the downfall of the response to her allegations.
Even though the movement is not so wide spread in the Tollywood industry, it is surely gaining momentum as the victims are coming out and standing up against the attackers. One of the major factors in the influence of this movement is the media. Three are occurrences when the traditional media houses are hesitating from bringing out the news against prominent actors / personalities in the fear that it will affect them. This problem is taken care of by the Internet. In this age of social media , the celebrities and even common people are using it to highlight their opinions and to make sure it is being heard . This brings about the change in the influence the traditional media has over the people. The actors/ actresses usually do have a huge fan following on the social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
The Bad Side:
One small issue with these movements is the rise of false allegations. There have been cases where people where falsely alleged of harassment due to some personal conflict issues or to bring out a bad impression of a person. It is truly said that it takes a lifetime to build up your reputation and only a moment to destroy it. When such mis allegations occur , it makes people to doubt even the actual incidents.
The #metoo movement is surely catching up in the Tollywood industry. It is a positive news that people are standing up for themselves though steps are to be taken to ensure that the false allegations are not entertained.