Amala Paul stands by Leena Manimekalai; gets abused by Susi Ganeshan and his wife 

Actor Amala Paul, who played the lead in Susi Ganeshan's Thiruttu Payale 2 (2017), has expressed her support for independent filmmaker Leena Manimekalai and her allegations of sexual harassment at the hands of the director. Leena, who had originally written a post about the alleged incident in February 2017, openly named the individual who sexually harassed her as Susi Ganeshan on October 14. The director, known for his films like Five Star, Virumbugiren, Thiruttu Payale, and Kanthaswamy, had refuted the allegations, calling them 'disgusting lies'. The latest development in this story comes in the form of Amala Paul taking to Twitter and sharing her own experiences on the sets of Thiruttu Payale 2.

The actor wrote, "I support Leena Manimekalai's allegations and can imagine this episode happening with her, from a man who has a twisted set of moral values and utterly low respect for women. She being an aspiring director could have made her an easy target. Me too, despite being the leading actress for Thiruttu Payale 2, was subjected to double-meaning talk, misrepresented offers and unchivalrous physical contact. This pretty much made my experience of shooting TP2, a mentally fatiguing one. I can totally understand what she could have been subjected to."

She added, "I applaud her for the courage she showed by narrating her ordeal on a public platform. In our emerging economy and ever expanding female work force, this behaviour is rampantly occurring everywhere, in all trades and industries. These men treat their wives and daughters different, but when it comes to their colleagues they don't miss a chance to show an upper hand and take advantage. We have heard a lot of cases from spiritual and creative industries. But true change will come when service and unorganised sectors are also heard for their #metoo ordeals."

She called upon the government and judicial benches to device a system to address these issues and "not let the female work force of future be subjected to such harrowing #metoo incidents."
 

Within a couple of hours of posting this message, the actor apparently received a call from the director. After this, she took to Twitter again to say, "Just got the shock of my life! Susi Ganeshan and Manjari Susi Ganeshan (his wife) called. I picked up to explain my stand. While I was trying to pacify his wife; Susi started abusing me and to my surprise his wife started laughing. Then they both joined to slut shame me. They feel they can scare me with these tactics."

We tried to reach Susi Ganeshan, but the director was unavailable for comment.