Chinmayi Gives Counter To Megastar’s Casting Couch Speech

Other day, Megastar Chiranjeevi stated at the success meet of Mana Shankara Varaprasad Garu that there’s no such thing as Casting Couch in the film industry, and asked more women to come into Tollywood. He stated that if every girl were determined and strong, no one would exploit them. Here comes singer Chinmayi Sripada, the champion of the downtrodden women in the film industry, explaining her stance.

“Legendary Chiranjeevi garu comes from a generation where they all were friends or even family friends with their female co artistes, mutually respected each other, worked with legends, and they are all legends themselves”, says Chinmayi, adding, ”Casting couch is rampant, women are refused roles if they don’t offer ‘full commitment’ - a word that means completely different in the film industry”. She further gave examples of some singers and musicians (girls) who were asked for sexual favours by industry biggies, and later quit the industry itself owing to the pressure.

“The abuse and sexual harassment of girls is a rampant issue. The MeToo movement was something a whole generation of people couldn’t comprehend, with ladies like Sowcar Janaki even insulting women who outed their molesters,” says Chinmayi, and countering Chiru’s comments that the industry is a reflection of what you are, she added, “No, the Industry is not a mirror that reflects who you are”.

“Men believing they are OWED sex in return for giving work are the problem,” she writes, giving the last conclusion statement to the whole issue.