As the Hema report and #MeToo turmoil continues spilling one shocking secret after another in the Malayalam film industry, actress Sujatha, who goes by her screen name Sowmya, claimed that she was groomed to be a "sex slave" by a Tamil filmmaker when she was only 18.
Without taking names, Sowmya told NDTV that she made some connections in showbiz through the theatre group in her college when she was 18, and that is when the Tamil director approached her father to cast her in a film.
She revealed that she did not feel comfortable with the director from their first meeting itself, however, she felt she was obligated to work with him because he had spent lot of money to cast her in the role. However, once she was on sets, the director gave her "angry silent treatment", which intimidated Sowmya, and she tried to not get into his bad books.
Sowmya shared that the director and his wife got her home and would pamper her with food and milkshakes. "One day, when his wife wasn't around, this man, while calling me his daughter, kissed me. I completely froze. I was so desperate to tell my friends but couldn't. I was ashamed, thinking I had done something wrong and that I was obligated to be nice to this man," she recalled, adding that she continued visiting his house for rehearsals for the film.
"Gradually, this man completely used my body to his advantage. He forced himself on me. He raped me. This went on for close to a year while I was still in college," she shared, adding that the whole charade was the director's process to groom her as a "sex slave".
She also said that the director would call her his daughter and also tell her that he wanted a child with her. "He messed with my brain...It took me 30 years to recover from this sense of shame," she said.
Sowmya stated that she has shared her ordeal with the police, and added that she does not want to make the director's name public keeping her safety in mind.
