December 27th, 2008
In Tollywood films, heroes often fight for the downtrodden. But off-screen Tollywood is a hierarchy-ridden world where small-time artistes swallow insults and pull on. Bollywood actor Neetu Chandra’s complaint that she was harassed by Tollywood actor Dr. Rajasekhar and his wife Jeevitha on the sets of Satyameva Jayathe is just one instance of this. Earlier, Mohan Babu was accused of slapping his son’s heroine Shilpa Sivanand. There are awful tales about director Teja too.Regarding Neetu’s case, the veracity of the allegation is yet to be ascertained, but the fact remains that middle-level actors rarely come out with such complaints since their survival is at stake.Neetu’s allegation: She was roughed up by the star couple Dr Rajkashekar and Jeevitha who threatened to kill her after she expressed her inability to work because of illness. But there is deafening silence from the industry. Why are people in the industry scared of taking a stand?
Milind Soman, who is also playing a role in the movie, says, "I will definitely take a stand for her. But first I need to clarify both the sides of the story." He adds that he had been treated well by Dr Rajasekhar and others. . "But that is probably because I am not new in the industry," he points out. Soman adds that he has worked even when he was sick since he knows that deadline is a very important thing in the industry. "And secondly an actor needs to be interested in the project and work hard for it," he says.
"I have always been treated like a queen," says actress Trisha. "I have worked with the best of people in the industry, being in the top league, I haven’t faced any such harassment. Had I been in the same project with Neetu, perhaps I would have taken a stand, but one has to be present at the time of the whole incident to know both sides of the story."
She advises newcomers to choose the people they are going to work with carefully.Trisha, an accomplished actress, points out that there are deadlines and pressures in every job. "Everybody has to work hard to meet the deadline. Sometimes you have to work without breaks because of bad weather. You can’t crib over it because the entire crew is working hard."
Celebrity stylist Jayati Bose also points out that one cannot complain about health when he or she is working outdoors which costs a fortune.But one wonders if a top actress would have been meted out similar treatment if she was fever stricken. Quite probably, the crew would have waited for her to recover.
.jpg)
