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Bengali actress Srilekha Mitra alleged that Malayalam film director and chairman of the government-run Kerala Chalachitra Academy Ranjith misbehaved with her in 2009. The incident is related to Ranjith’s film ‘Paleri Manikyam: Oru Pathirkolapathakthanate Katha’.
Srilekha told Indian Express: “He was talking on the phone. There were a lot of people there. He was talking on the phone to the cinematographer I had worked with. Asking me if I wanted to talk to him (the cinematographer), he (Ranjith) called me to another room.”
Srilekha further said that the bedroom was dark and there was a balcony nearby. While she was talking to the cinematographer on the phone, Ranjit was standing next to her, playing with her bangles and touching her skin. “We women have a sixth sense. I felt uncomfortable, but I was trying to give him the benefit of the doubt. I felt I was overthinking and I thought he wanted to see my bangles. I didn’t feel okay with him.”
Since she did not respond immediately, he then tried playing with her neck and hair. “Then, I apologised and left the room.”
Denying the allegations, Ranjith said that Sreelekha had come for the audition. “Film producer Shankar Ramakrishnan and others were present at the flat. The alleged incident did not happen. Her performance was not satisfactory and she was told about it. There is a hidden agenda behind raising this controversy at this time. If she takes any legal action, it will be responded to in the same manner,” he told the media.
The allegation has come in the backdrop of the release of the Hema Committee report, which exposed rampant sexual exploitation in the film industry.
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