DMK party suspends actor Radha Ravi over sexist remarks against Nayanthara

The DMK party on Monday temporarily suspended partyman and actor Radha Ravi following his sexist remarks against actress Nayanthara at the trailer launch of her film Kolayuthir Kaalam on Saturday. Radha Ravi’s comments invited the wrath of members from the Tamil film fraternity and public in general.

As per a statement issued by DMK general secretary K Anbazhagan on Sunday, the actor was being suspended from primary membership of the party.

"Actor Radha Ravi is being temporarily suspended from the party and all other party posts for breaching party discipline and acting in a manner that brings disgrace to the party," read his statement.

At the trailer launch, Radha Ravi took a cheap dig at Nayanthara, slut-shaming her choice of roles.

“Nayanthara has acted as a ghost and as goddess Sita as well. Earlier, KR Vijaya was the most popular choice to play the role of goddess. Today, 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,” Radha Ravi was quoted in an article by Hindustan Times.

Singer and dubbing artiste Chinmayi Sripaada, who was banned from dubbing by Radha Ravi after she spoke against Vairamuthu for sexual harassment, was one of the first to call out Radha Ravi for his insensitive comment.

“Ok. So the Producers' Council and the Nadigar Sangam can’t take any action in my case because they cannot ‘interfere in the functioning of other unions’. But this man is actually abusing a successful female actor on stage. Do take action, if you could?,” Chinmayi tweeted.

She also tweeted after Radha Ravi was suspended from the DMK party.

Actors like Varalaxmi Sarath Kumar tweeted: “Shaming women, making offensive jokes on women (which they think is not offensive) degrading women, using women as eye candy have all become a part of this film industry thanks to our previous generations of women and men who didn’t react and instead thought it was ok. This is our state.”

“If all the women in the film fraternity stood up with Chinmayi during Me Too, things would have changed,” she said.

She also pointed out that most film unions and associations are run by “male chauvinists”.

KJR Studios, which has bankrolled films such as Aramm (2018) and upcoming horror-thriller Airaa with Nayanthara, swore to never cast Radha Ravi in any of their films in the future.

“We sincerely condemn Mr. Radha Ravi and will not cast him in any of our films and we will strongly advice our associates and friends in the industry not to cast him either,” read their tweet.