The Tamil lyricist was accused of sexual harassment by 17 women, including singer and dubbing artiste Chinmayi Sripaada, at the height of the #MeToo movement in India.
Geethu Mohandas, Anjali Menon oppose decision to confer ONV award on Vairamuthu
Mumbai - 27 May 2021 21:07 IST
Our Correspondent
Filmmakers Anjali Menon and Geethu Mohandas have condemned the decision to confer the prestigious ONV award on Tamil lyricist Vairamuthu, who was accused of sexually inappropriate behaviour and harassment by 17 women at the height of the #MeToo movement in India.
Actress Parvathy also took to Instagram on Thursday to slam the jury of the ONV Literary Award for honouring the lyricist, who will incidentally be the first non-Malayalam writer to win the award.
While Vairamuthu has denied the allegations, no inquiry has been made into them yet.
Referring to legendary Malayalam poet ONV Kurup, in whose memory the prize has been instituted, Anjali flayed the ONV Academy on Twitter for choosing Vairamuthu for the award.
ONV Sir's name resounds with deep sensitivity, dignity and respect for any Malayalee. Therefore very disturbed to know that ONV Academy has chosen an alleged perpetrator (called out by 17 women) for the #ONVAward. Are these the values they celebrate? https://t.co/Y87dOIcGfj
— Anjali Menon (@AnjaliMenonFilm) May 27, 2021
Filmmakers Leena Manimekalai and Geethu Mohandas were also vocal about their disappointment with the jury.
18 women have called out Vairamuthu as a sexual predator. @CMOKerala Comrade @vijayanpinarayi is mentioned as patron to ONV Cultural Academy. So many respected artistes in the committee. It is heart breaking to see such a jury to have licensed a predator with an award #metoo pic.twitter.com/nQ6e9pRyi2
— Leena Manimekalai (@LeenaManimekali) May 27, 2021
Vocalist TM Krishna was also among the artistes who objected to Vairamuthu's nomination.
This is how our society validates and gives more strength to someone who has been called out by several women as a sexual predator.
— T M Krishna (@tmkrishna) May 26, 2021
Utterly Shameful! https://t.co/WB3VMjFTff
The lyricist is currently involved in some of the biggest projects in the Tamil film industry, including Mani Ratnam's upcoming series Ponniyin Selvan.
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