No End In Sight: Allegations Of Sexual Harassment Continue To Pour In Against Tamil Lyricist Vairamuthu
Following an anonymous woman’s complaint that Vairamuthu, national award winner and famous poet, author and lyricist, had allegedly tried to sexually abuse her, more such complaints have been made against the lyricist on social media.
The Tamil film industry personality, who had a few months ago derogatorily termed Aandal the only female saint among the 12 Alwars in South India as a “devadasi”, has been accused of sexual misbehaviour by at least three more women. One of them, whose allegations were tweeted by journalist Sandhya Menon, said that she considered Vairamuthu as her “grandfather” but his behaviour was totally in contrast to stated principles. The woman said she was called by the lyricist when she was 18 or 19 years old on the pretext of “appreciating her work” and he tried to misbehave with her. She said she escaped giving some excuse, but Vairamuthu told her later not to report the incident to his wife.
Another tweet, shared by singer Chinmayi Sripada, alleged that the lyricist had demanded sexual favours for him, and a film producer from a “lovely singer”. The singer vowed never to look out for an opportunity to be a playback singer.
Another woman whose tweet was also shared by Sripada said Vairamuthu attempted to “kiss” her at his Besant Nagar house in the guise of pointing out at “buttermilk” on her lips. Questioned about the tweets, Sripada asserted that she stood by the allegations and more stories are coming in from women terrified to say who they were.
On 8 October, an anonymous woman messaged her allegations to journalist Sandhya Menon recounting her harrowing tales at the hands of Vairamuthu when she was 18 years old.
Sripada was among those who tweeted in support of the woman saying that the entire industry knew of Vairamuthu’s behaviour and that ‘time’s up’, referring to the nation-wide #MeToo phenomenon.
Vairamuthu has been a staunch supporter of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and its patriarch the late M Karunanidhi. One person on social media said he was also known for assaulting a new actress in front of everyone. Another said the lyricist had “played” with careers with his “connections”.