Women in film industry need dedicated union: Varalaxmi

Chennai March 2 (IANS) Actress Varalaxmi Sarath Kumar says she will fight for the formation of a union to address all women-related grievances including sexual harassment in Tamil filmdom.

In her past post Varalaxmi had revealed that the head of a TV channel tried to harass her.

On Wednesday night via a video message she said she has decided to start a campaign called Save Shakti aimed at creating a platform for women in the Tamil industry to talk about their problems.

Varalaxmi said: The response to my post last week was unprecedented. It made me realize that a lot of women are subject to harassment but they don t speak about it publicly. I wanted this to go beyond a post on social media.

She struck upon the idea when she consulted a few lawyers.

When I discussed with a few lawyers to find out what can be done practically I decided to start a campaign - Save Shakti - through which I plan to approach the state government with a series of requests she said.

She wants a specialised court for women and sex offenders.

Only then will women be brave enough to even go and file a sexual harassment case. My other request is to reach a verdict in such cases within six months. Finally I want to form a union exclusively to address all women-related problems across the hierarchy in Tamil industry she said.

Varalaxmi plans to approach the Film Employees Federation of South India (FEFSI) to request the formation of a women s union.

On the career front she is currently shooting for Tamil thriller Vikram Vedha.

--IANS
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