Sri Reddy was escorted away from the area by police personnel after refusing to call off the protest.Hyderabad: An aspiring actress resorted to a strip protest on Saturday at the office of Telugu Film Chamber of Commerce here after alleging that some filmmakers had sexually exploited her.
Sri Reddy, who has been speaking about the casting couch in Tollywood, caused a stir by sitting semi-naked on the road in front of the office in Filmnagar.
She said her protest was also against the Movie Artists Association (MAA) for denying her membership despite having acted in three films.
The actress started her protest by stripping in in front of cameramen of television channels.
She was escorted away from the area by police personnel after refusing to call off the protest.
A police officer told reporters that she could register a complaint but a naked protest was not allowed.
Sri Reddy alleged that many producers and directors demanded her nude photos and videos for a film role. She said they did not give her roles even after she obliged with the requests.
She demanded that Telugu girls should be given roles in Tollywood films and claimed that filmmakers were sexually exploiting other actresses too.
For last few days, she had been posting on social media that casting couch was rampant in Tollywood and threatened to name and shame those who were sexually exploiting aspiring actors.
Charges, counter-charges on casting couch sear Tollywood
Casting couch controversy is rocking Tollywood these days, as more female actors are coming forward to reveal their bitter experiences. It was the leading lady Rakul Preet Singh who began a debate on the casting couch in the Telugu industry.
She had reportedly said that casting couch doesn’t exist in the Telugu industry and she hasn’t had any untoward experiences in her career. However, Rakul’s comment did not go down well with some other actresses and artists like Madhavi Latha and Sri Reddy criticised Rakul Preet for her opinions.
Sri Reddy even alleged that she had been sexually assaulted by a noted filmmaker. Meanwhile, it is widely known that she was targetting popular director Sekhar Kammula even though she didn’t name the filmmaker openly.
Sri Reddy alleged that Kammula had tried to entice her by offering her prominent roles in his movies. She, however, didn’t fall for his tactics. Meanwhile, an emotional Kammula lashed out against the actress saying that she was lying and that he had the support of his family.
Threatening legal action against Sri Reddy, Kammula demanded an apology from the actress and asked her to withdraw the allegations against him.
Sri Reddy had also alleged that popular playback singer and Indian Idol winner Sriram had sent her lewd messages on the social media. Posting the screen shots of her WhatsApp chat with the singer on her Facebook page, Sri Reddy said that she was forced to do so as she couldn’t suffer Sriram’s obscene comments anymore. The actress said that the singer allegedly asked her to send him obscene pictures.
(With inputs from IANS)
