CHENNAI: Actor Jayaram, who earned the ire of political parties and the film fraternity in the State for having allegedly insulted Tamil women in an interview, expressed his apology to the people, especially women, on Friday.
Recently, during the promotion of his new film Happy Husbands, the actor was interviewed by a Malayalam channel. In the film, the actor plays the role of a man attracted to his housemaid. When the TV host asked him whether in real life too he was attracted to his maid, he reportedly said, ‘My maid is a dark, fat buffalo — like Tamil woman. How can I be attracted to her?’ The remarks drew flak from various sections.
In his apology note, the Chennai-based actor, who is popular in both Tamil and Malayalam films, said he had made the comment based on the character he had played in the film and meant it casually and as a joke. “If this in any way has hurt the Tamils, especially, Tamil women, I apologise.”
Prior to the actor’s apology, BJP state leader Pon Radhakrishnan severely condemned the actor’s remarks, saying he had not only degraded Tamil women, but also an entire section of domestic workers.
Earlier in the day, Advocate A Indrani of Chintadripet moved the 14th Metropolitan Magistrate Court in Egmore seeking punishment for Jayaram.
In her criminal complaint against Jayaram, Indrani, State in-charge of the Women Lawyers Peravai for Social Justice, said she was pained to read an article in Tamil magazine Kumudam dated February 10, according to which Jayaram had described her maid as a ‘dark, fat and buffalo-like Tamil woman’.
His utterances amounted to insulting the dignity of Tamil women as a whole, and bringing disrepute to them, she said. Jayaram had thereby committed an offence punishable under sections 499 and 500 of the IPC, she said.
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