Sri Reddy gives voice to #MeToo
The South Indian actress staged a protest by marching up to the offices of a film commission and stripping half-naked
There was no shortage of television cameras when Sri Reddy, an Indian film actress, took off her top.
Reddy, a middling star in South India, announced on Saturday that she was staging a protest against sexual harassment in the Indian film industry, one of the bolder #MeToo-type moments that the country has seen.
She marched up to the offices of a film commission, stripped half-naked and stood there glaring at a bank of cameras, hands covering her breasts. “Are we girls, or things to play with?” she asked.
She was then whisked off by police to face possible charges of public nudity.
Though the #MeToo movement has not shaken society in India the way it has in the US, several Indian actresses, after abuse allegations were made against US producer Harvey Weinstein, stepped forward to complain about a pervasive culture of sexual harassment.
The allegations included claims they had been groped, propositioned and forced to demean themselves to get work. Reddy, 28, has been one of the most vocal. In recent days, she has lobbed serious accusations against powerful men in the film business.
After videos and pictures of a topless Reddy spread quickly on the internet, the question turned to what would be the impact. Reddy is not widely known across India, and she staged her protest in Hyderabad, a big city in the south-centre of the country, but not nearly as important for the movie industry as Mumbai.
Deepa Narayan, a social scientist who has recently published a book on how women are treated in India, said Reddy might face problems. “The first thing that happens when a woman in India takes a bold move, she is dismissed,” Narayan said. That seems to have already begun. Some actors have taken swipes at Reddy, accusing her of staging the protest just to bolster her career, an accusation that she has rejected. But, Narayan said, “If she can get a few women to rally around her, maybe it will lead to real change.”