Bengali actor Sreelekha Mitra alleged that Malayalam film director and chairman of government-run Kerala Chalachitra Academy Ranjith had misbehaved with her back in 2009. The incident is linked to Ranjith’s film ‘Paleri Manikyam: Oru Pathirakolapathakathinte Katha’
Sreelekha told Indian Express: “He was on a phone call. There were a lot of people. He was on the phone with the cinematographer with whom I had worked. Asking me whether I want to talk to him (the cinematographer), he (Ranjith) called me to another room.”
The bedroom was dark, with a balcony nearby, Sreelekha went on to add. When she was speaking to the cinematographer over the phone, Ranjith stood beside her, playing with her bangles and touching her skin. “We women have the sixth sense. I felt uncomfortable, but I was trying to give him the benefit of doubt. I thought I was overthinking and thought he wanted to see my bangles. I was not feeling ok with him.”
Since, she did not react immediately, he then tried to play with her neck and hair. “Then, I excused myself and left the room.”
Denying the allegation, Ranjith said Sreelekha had come for an audition. “Filmmaker Shankar Ramakrishnan and others were present at the flat. The alleged incident did not take place. Her performance was not satisfactory and it was communicated to her. There is an ulterior agenda behind raising this controversy at this moment. If she takes any legal step, it would be countered in the same manner,” he told the media.
The allegation seems to have come up against the backdrop of release of Hema Committee report, which exposed rampant sexual abuse in the film industry.
