Director and Producer of Tamil film “Nibunan” were asked to appear for investigation regarding the sexual allegation made by actress Shruthi hariharan during the shooting of the 2017 flick. Based on the complaint made by the actress, in the year 2018, Police officials of Bangalore Cubbon Park station registered a case against actor Arjun and started investigation. Crew members of the film were asked to appear for investigation several times but failed to do so, said reports. Now, producer Jayaram, director Arun, Aravind were asked to make their presence for investigations through a notice.

[wp_ad_camp_1]

“I was shooting for a bilingual film which starred Arjun Sarja, a man whose movies I have grown up watching. I was excited about the opportunity,” Actress Sruthi Haran said in her Face book post while making the complaint against Arjun. “During the rehearsal, we delivered our lines and Mr. Arjun hugs me. With no forewarning or permission, he runs his hands intimately up and down my back. He pulls me closer with my body taut against his and asks the director if we could use this idea of foreplay in the scene,” the actress recalled through her post.

The incident which took place before at least 50 of the film’s crew left her “aghast”, Sruthi said. “I am all for depicting realism in cinema, but this felt absolutely wrong. His (Arjun) intent seemed anything but I can’t go back as I am a professional who should complete what I signed for. I hated that he did it and angry that I didn’t know what to say then,” she added.

[wp_ad_camp_1]

The actress said the film’s director had “sensed her discomfort” and that she had shared the incident with her make-up team and informed the direction department that she was not interested to be part of rehearsals.

“During the course of production, every smutty innuendo he (Arjun) made created an unpalatable work environment for me. His salacious invitations to meet him after work appalled me,” added Sruthi, who featured in the critically acclaimed Kannada film Lucia (2013). “I choose to come out now because henceforth, I think Mr. Arjun Sarja needs to make sure he doesn’t cross the thin line between two actors and use his position of power to cause another person discomfort or hurt,” she added.

The actress said the #MeToo movement is to make sure “no man ever takes a woman’s personal space for granted, whoever she is to him. “This (film) industry has helped me achieve my dreams, explore my capabilities and inspired me to be versatile. It breaks my heart to share that I have felt unsafe, disturbed and disappointed in far too many situations,” said Sruthi.

Here’s the screen shot of her post :

[wp_ad_camp_1]

Arjun, popularly known as ‘Action King’, has acted in over 150 movies across Tamil, Telugu and Kannada languages. At the time, the allegations were made, he has dismissed the allegations as “false”. “The allegations being levelled against me are entirely baseless. I am shocked to hear such false allegations,” Arjun told a news channel responding to the sexual harassment allegation.

Now, a notice has been sent to director Arun and producer Jayaram to appear for investigation regarding the case.

நடிகர் அர்ஜூன் மீது நடிகை ஸ்ருதி ஹரிஹரன் அளித்த பாலியல் புகார் : பட தயாரிப்பாளர், இயக்குநர் விசாரணைக்கு ஆஜராக நோட்டீஸ் !#Arjun | #Nibunan | #SruthiHariharan | #Abuse pic.twitter.com/0nAv7pzO4z

— Polimer News (@polimernews) September 13, 2021