‘I paid a very heavy price:' Chinmayi slams Vairamuthu's Jnanpith award

Playback singer Chinmayi, who was the first to accuse lyricist Vairamuthu of sexual misconduct in 2018, has expressed her disappointment over his Jnanpith award win on Saturday. The ‘Kaathalae Kaathalae’ singer, who also lent her voice recently to the Malayalam film 'Sarvam Maya,' has referred to Vairamuthu as a 'molester' and criticised the win, pointing out that the award was granted to a man who has faced multiple allegations of sexual misconduct from various women.

In a scathing comment on social media, Chinmayi condemned the honour: "In 2018, multiple women from different age groups came forward and named one poet-lyricist as their molester. Today, the same man is awarded the Jnanpith. This award comes after Sri Jayakantan's daughter accused Vairamuthu of presenting a forged, fake letter supposedly written by her father, praising him. The very same committee from Kerala that had announced him for the ONV Kurup award later had to revoke it after protests arose against sullying Sri ONV Kurup’s name."

Chinmayi continued: "The voices of the women who spoke up were silenced, while I paid a heavy price for coming forward. Many of the other women, who had their careers and dreams shattered, were not as fortunate as I was."

It’s important to note that in 2018, Chinmayi made her allegations against Vairamuthu shortly after two women accused Radha Ravi, the former chief of the Tamil Nadu Film Artistes' Association, of sexual abuse. Following her outspoken support for these survivors, Chinmayi revealed that she had faced a shadow ban in the Tamil film industry, with her projects being abruptly canceled or rescinded at the last moment.