#MeToo: South Actress Sruthi Hariharan names Arjun Sarja, says he ran his hands up and down my back

As #MeToo campaign against sexual harassment widens in India. South actress Sruthi Hariharan on Saturday accused south Indian actor Arjun Sarja of sexually harassing her during the shoot of a film in 2016.

Notably, Arjun Sarja has dismissed all the allegations made by Sruthi Hariharan. Responding to the sexual harassment Arjun Sarja said, “The allegations being levelled against me are entirely baseless. I am shocked to hear such false allegations.”

The survivor wrote in her Facebook post reading, “I was shooting for a bilingual film which starred Arjun Sarja, a man whose movies I have grown up watching. I was excited about the opportunity.”

During the shoot, Arjun Sarja — appeared in multilingual films supposed to do a romantic scene with the actress, who was playing a role of his wife in the film. The film’s name was not mentioned in the Facebook post.

Recalling her alleged incident, the actress said, “During the rehearsal, we delivered our lines and Mr Arjun hugs me. With no forewarning or permission, he runs his hands intimately up and down my back. He pulls me closer with my body taut against his and asks the director if we could use this idea of foreplay in the scene.”

She said the incident took place in presence of at least 50 members of the film’s crew leaving her “aghast”.

“I am all for depicting realism in cinema, but this felt absolutely wrong. His (Arjun) intent seemed anything but professional. I hated that he did it and angry that I didn’t know what to say then,” she added.

The 29-year-old actress said the film’s director had “sensed her discomfort” and that she had shared the incident with her make-up team and informed the direction department that she was not interested to be part of rehearsals.

“During the course of production, every smutty innuendo he (Arjun) made created an unpalatable work environment for me. His salacious invitations to meet him after work appalled me,” added Sruthi Hariharan.

Though she didn’t want to go back to filming, she had to finish the project she had signed, Ms Hariharan said.

“I choose to come out now because henceforth, I think Mr. Arjun Sarja needs to make sure he doesn’t cross the thin line between two actors and use his position of power to cause another person discomfort or hurt,” she added.

The actress said the #MeToo movement is to make sure “no man ever takes a woman’s personal space for granted, whoever she is to him.

“This (film) industry has helped me achieve my dreams, explore my capabilities and inspired me to be versatile. It breaks my heart to share that I have felt unsafe, disturbed and disappointed in far too many situations,” said Sruthi Hariharan.

Also read: #MeToo: Actor Rahul Raj accuses writer Mushtaq Sheikh of sexual harassment, destroying his career