Actress Charmila Levels MeToo Allegations Against Producer Mohanan, Director Hariharan, Dozens More

Hema Committee report brought a storm in the Malayalam film industry as the findings shed light on the ongoing exploitation of female artists, gender equality, sexual favours and more in Mollywood. Since the report was released several actresses came forward and filed a complaint against their perpetrators, including Siddique, Jayasurya, Ranjith and Mukesh M. In a recent development, another actress has come forward, alleging producer Mohanan and director Hariharan for sexual misconduct. She also accused 28 people, including major actors of abuse, according to Mathrubhumi.

They tried to remove my saree: Charmila

According to a report in Onmanorama, Charmila recalled how she narrowly escaped the advances of producer MP Mohanan and his friends in a hotel room. The incident happened in 1997 during the shoot of Arjunan Pillayum Anju Makkalum when the producer Mohanan, production manager Shanmukhan and their friends tried to gangrape the actress. She added that they also sexually harassed her assistant. "They tried to remove my saree. They sexually harassed my assistant as well. A male assistant was assaulted. The receptionist at the hotel I was staying was also in on it. It was an autorickshaw driver who saved us," she added. Though she escaped, the actress further revealed that they raped the junior artists working in that movie.

Hariharan asked if she was ready for 'adjustment'

Adjustment in the film industry meant for sexual favours. So when the director approached her for a role, he asked if she was ready for adjustment. "He asked my friend and actor Vishnu if I was ready for adjustment," she said. And since she said "No", the director removed her and actor Vishnu from his film Parinayam.

She added that owing to this she lost many films. "I have worked in four languages. Such problems mainly exist in the Malayalam industry," she added. Vishnu in an interview with Onmanorama confirmed Charmila's allegations.

Why Charmila didn't file a complaint against them?

According to a report in Onmanorama, Charmila shared that she didn't file complaints against any of them as she was not interested and has a son.