Veteran actress Vichithra, a star contestant in the Bigg Boss Tamil season 7, revealed that she was sexually harassed by a popular Telugu actor and a stunt master during the shooting of a film in 2001. She said that she quit the film industry after the incident and married the hotel manager who helped her during those trying times.
Vichitra said that the actor asked her to come to his room on the first day of the shoot and when she refused he later sent men to bang on her door every night. She also said that a stunt man groped her repeatedly during a scene and the stunt master slapped her when she complained. She filed a police complaint but the case did not make any headway.
Though Vichithra did not name the actor or the stunt master in her confession, social media users have identified them as Balakrishna and A Vijay, based on an old news report. They have posted tweets condemning their behavior and demanding justice for Vichitra.
Meanwhile in an exclusive interview to Indiaglitz, Vichithra’s husband Shaji recalled the trauma that her wife faced. He explained that at that time he was not even friends with Vichithra and their relationship was just a guest and a hotel manager.
Shaji revealed that the production company did not pay the room rent for Vichithra so that she will be thrown out of the hotel. They did not arrange flight tickets for her to get back to Chennai and he it was he who took the responsibility of safely transporting the actress to the airport. It was after this incident that they couple fell in love and they finally got married.
Shaji further explained that the Vichithra’s case went on for a while and police enquiry was there for some time and his father in law handled it. The Nadigar Sangam did not help her according to Shaji and due to pressure from the concerned actor who wielded a lot of clout they had to dismiss the case.
Shaji added that this harrowing experience is what made him insist that Vichithra quit acting since there was no safety for women. He expressed his displeasure regarding Vichithra sharing the incident as it is very much unlike her. The couple’s eldest son apparently was affected by this and he asked his father why his mother hid such a shocking incident from him.
On the whole even though it is laudable that Vichithra came out with this issue which must have troubled her for more than two decades. However at the same time her family is now facing fresh trauma but as the anchor Joe put it Vichithra has inspired other victims to speak out and not suffer in silence.