Singer Chinmayi Sripada has criticised actors Kamal Haasan and Rajinikanth for congratulating poet and lyricist Vairamuthu after he was selected for the prestigious Jnanpith Award.
Vairamuthu was recently named the recipient of the award, becoming the third Tamil writer to receive the country’s highest literary honour.
In 2018, multiple women named Vairamuthu during the #MeToo movement, including Chinmayi.
Reacting to the news of the award, she wrote, “In 2018, multiple women of different age groups named one Poet - Lyricist as their molester. The collective voices of the women who named him, were silenced. I paid a very heavy price - the rest of the women who left their dreams behind weren’t half as lucky as I”,.
In another post, she also wrote, “Ashapoorna Devi was the first woman writer to be honored by India with the Jnanpith Award. Reading Chinmayi on X brought back memories of her. These were the questions Ashapoorna Devi raised while accepting the Jnanpith: ‘Why does this society tolerate so many unjustifiable actions from men? Why are women's rights denied in every sphere of life? Why must they live suffocated within the darkness of inner quarters?’ Ashapoorna Devi asked, ‘Why?’ Half a century later, Chinmayi Sripaada asks as well: ‘Why is it that you feel no pain when women are subjected to psychological trauma?’”.
Following the announcement, Kamal Haasan congratulated the lyricist in a post on X. “Tamil literature, with its long tradition, has received the prestigious literary award, the Jnanpith, for the third time. After the previous Jnanpith received by Jayakanthan, after the passage of a quarter century, my uncle poet-emperor @Vairamuthu has added this great honor to Tamil. With the poetic words ‘The sky is a Bodhi tree for me; every day it gives me a message’, which fell into my ears, entered my heart, and mingled in friendship, I take pride in congratulating this friend”.
Chinmayi responded to the post, writing, “For God’s sake. P.S.: Men in such power in cinema transitioning to politics completely turning a deaf ear to women who come on record to say they were molested by “his uncle-mentor” must remind women who vote - that men will never be on our side. The weirdest thing - one of the women in his own party publicly named the Poet. End of the day, men WILL stand by their bros, uncles, dads, friends, mentors. Who cares if multiple women were traumatised?”
Rajinikanth also congratulated Vairamuthu on X, writing in Tamil, “My heartfelt congratulations to my dear friend, the esteemed poet Vairamuthu, recipient of the great Jnanpith Award of our Indian nation. @Vairamuthu #JnanpithAward.” Chinmayi responded to the message, writing, “Ayyyyyyoooo!!! Puriyave puriyaadha (what a puzzle)??”.
Chinmayi was banned from the South Indian Cine, Television Artistes and Dubbing Artistes Union (SICTADAU) in 2018 after accusing poet Vairamuthu of sexual harassment. She recently lent her voice to the reprise version of Muththa Mazhai, composed by A.R. Rahman, from the film Thug Life.