Fresh #MeToo Wave: Actress Alleges Director Groomed Her As ‘Sex Slave’

Chennai: The fresh #MeToo movement, triggered by the Justice Hema Committee report in Kerala’s Malayalam film industry, has spread in other southern states.

Adding to the spate of sexual assault and rape allegations, popular actress Sowmya has accused a Tamil director of horrific mental, physical, and sexual assault, including insertion of a rod into her genitals.

In an explosive interview, Sowmya told NDTV that she was being “groomed as a sex slave” by the director, whose identity she said she would reveal to the special police team formed by Kerala government.

Sowmya said the man in question — who she said approached her with his wife and when she was 18 years old — inflicted mental torture by claiming her as his ‘daughter’ and declaring he wanted a child with her.

“I was 18 and in my first year of college… I came from a very sheltered background and my parents knew nothing about movies. This opportunity (to act in a Tamil film) came through my college theatre contact. As a child I was enamoured by the actor Revathy, who lived near my house at that time…I was in a fantasy world. So I went for a screen test with this couple,” the actress recalled.

“During the first outdoor shoots he (director) didn’t speak to me. The agreement was that his wife would be the director but that was on paper… in reality he was directing the whole movie,” Sowmya said.

“And so I was under his control… and he gave me the ‘angry silent treatment’ like a lot of men are used to doing. And because of our conditioning in patriarchy… about authority figures, particularly intimidating men who express anger very easily, I was very scared,” she said.

She spelt out how she was ‘groomed’ by the director.

“They brought me into their home… I was a teenager who was rebellious at home and suddenly this couple was nice to me, bribing me with good food and milkshakes, and telling me good things. That was the grooming process… he knew fully well what he was doing,” she said firmly.

Sowmya then narrated to NDTV about the sexual assault and rape.

“One fine day, when his wife wasn’t around, this man, while calling me his daughter, kissed me. I completely froze. I was so desperate to tell my friends but couldn’t… I was ashamed, thinking I had done something wrong and that I was obligated to be nice to this man.

“So I continued going for practice, for dance rehearsals… every day I went back and gradually, step by step, this man completely used my body to his advantage. At some point he forced himself on me… so he raped me. This went on for close to a year while I was in college.”

The actress claimed the man repeatedly called her his ‘daughter’ and also that he wanted a child with her. “He messed with my brain,” she lamented.