Nithya Menen on sexual harassment | I have a different approach

Nithya Menen says she is against sexual harassment and that she has a different way of countering it. She chose not be a part of a grouping as she prefers to fight it “silently”. Last February, an actress had been kidnapped and assaulted in Kochi. Then it emerged that the abduction was allegedly masterminded by Malayalam superstar Dileep.

Later, actresses like Parvathy and women behind the scenes such as director Anjali Menon got together to launch the Women in Cinema Collective to identify the problems faced by women in the Malayalam film industry and explore ways to address them. Nithya, who has starred in Malayalam films like “Akasha Gopuram”, “Apoorvaragam” and “Ustad Hotel”, was not a part of it.

In a previous interview, she had stated that she had never faced sexual harassment. But after reading about women from Malayalam cinema getting assaulted and some of her fraternity members forming a collective, didn’t she feel like joining them?

“I completely understand the thing that people are facing. I do everything possible to counter it. Just because I am not doing it one way, doesn’t mean that I am not countering those things or I am not against it. I am, but I have a different approach,” Nithya Menen replied after a long pause during a telephonic interview with IANS.

“I believe that my way is only through my work. The way that I work and the kind of things that I do, the way that I approach people when I am working… all of this gives a strong message to people that I am working with, and to people who are watching my films.

“I have the same view as everybody else, but I prefer doing it my way. I don’t think that somebody is doing anything wrong or I don’t want to be a part of it. I am very much part of it. It’s just that I have a different way of countering the whole thing,” Nithya Menen added.