Tollywood actress’ war against casting couch gets bigger; she accuses top producer’s son of rape

A Telugu actress, who has been protesting vigorously against the casting couch menace in

Tollywood

, is threatening to expose the big fish of the film industry now. Sharing intimate pictures of herself with a leading Telugu producer’s son, the actress, whose semi-nude protest shook the country, has now accused him of sexually harassing her and says that “he literally raped me in the studio”.

“We met at a pub one day and became acquainted with each other. He then started taking me out on coffee dates and said that he was in love with me. He would often tell me that he would introduce me to big directors and producers. As an actor looking for work, I went along with him. One day, he took me inside his studio telling me that ‘the view from inside is nice’. And then he raped me, without my consent,” alleges the actress.

The alleged incident took place five years ago, she says, adding, “I am speaking about it now because I don’t want other women to suffer the same plight. This issue is much bigger than me. I am speaking up because he is a habitual offender and has sexually harassed many other women, including a transgender, using his big production house as an excuse. I’m speaking up now so that he can be punished and no other woman suffers the same plight,” she reasons. But why isn’t she filing a police complaint? “My focus is on my protest. I don’t want to run after cops, lawyers and court cases at this point...” she claims.

Earlier, the actress had revealed that an Indian idol winner had propositioned her on numerous occasions and kept asking her to send him her nude pictures. The actress even shared screenshots of her conversation with the singer on WhatsApp, where he’s requesting her to send him pictures. She also took the name of a top director and stated that he too was involved.

However, this is the first time she has taken the name of someone from one of the prominent film families of Tollywood. when asked what he has to say about the actress’ claims, the producer’s son told

Hyderabad Times

, “...I am driving, I cannot talk now. Can you message me.” Repeated messages and calls to him later, went unanswered.

The nature of the actress’ protest meanwhile, has left the film industry divided, with many claiming that it is not right for her to strip in protest or claim to ‘expose’ people randomly without even filing an FIR.

With the issue getting bigger by the day, it remains to be seen if the big wigs of the Telugu film industry or the

Telangana government

will break their silence.