Sruthi accuses Arjun of harassment on film set

Actress Sruthi Hariharan on Saturday accused south Indian actor Arjun Sarja of sexually harassing her on the sets of a film in 2016.

“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,” Hariharan said in a Facebook post.

During the film’s rehearsal, the 54-year-old actor had to do a romantic scene with the actress, who was playing the role of his wife in the unnamed film.

“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 29-year-old actress recalled.

The incident that took place before at least 50 of the film’s crew left her “aghast”, Hariharan said.

“I am all for depicting realism in cinema, but this felt absolutely wrong. His intent seemed anything but professional. I hated that he did it and angry that I didn’t know what to say then,” she added.

“During the course of production, every smutty innuendo he [Sarja] made created an unpalatable work environment for me. His salacious invitations to meet him after work appalled me,” added Hariharan.

Sarja, popularly known as Action King, has acted in more than 150 movies across Tamil, Telugu and Kannada languages.

“The allegations being levelled against me are entirely baseless. I am shocked to hear such false allegations,” he told a news channel.