‘They need to feel protected’

Women should feel safe at the strangest times and places and it is up to men to give them space, says South star Vikram, who termed the recent incidents of crimes against women in the country as “disgusting”.

The 58-year-old actor’s comments come in the wake of the alleged rape and murder of a woman doctor in Kolkata and the Justice Hema Committee’s report on exploitation of women in Malayalam cinema.

“All women need to feel protected. They need to be able to walk down the street at 3am and feel that they can walk, go home and no one will do anything. That every man is there to protect them, to give them their space. It’s disgusting what’s happening,” Vikram told PTI.

The actor, whose Tamil film “Thangalaan” is releasing in north India and its Hindi version hits theatres on Friday, said he often wonders how to address the issue of women’s safety in his films.

“We are affected by most things that happen… I always thought if I were creative, would I address it more in my films? Would I do something?” he said.

Vikram said that perhaps inspiration should be taken from “Thangalaan” director Pa Ranjith, whose films have a recurring theme of changing the entire system. “It’s something I’m trying to figure out, ‘What should we do? What should the nation do? Do we start young? Do we start inculcating these things in children?’ Like Pa Ranjith says, ‘Change the entire system and start from scratch’. I don’t know, something has to be done,” he added.

A female junior doctor was allegedly raped and murdered in the seminar hall of the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata on August 9. Following this, a volunteer of the Kolkata Police was arrested.

The Justice Hema Committee report, released on August 19, details the power dynamics in the Malayalam cinema industry and exposes the various levels of exploitation faced by women in the industry. The panel, appointed by the Kerala government to study issues of sexual harassment and gender inequality, was constituted after the 2017 actress assault case involving actor Dileep.

Vikram, one of the most popular names in Tamil cinema, known for his stellar performances in the films “Anniyan”, “Sethu”, “Deiva Thirumagal” and “Ponniyin Selvan”, plays the title role in the Tamil drama “Thangalaan”.

Set against the backdrop of the Kolar gold mines in Karnataka in the 19th century, the film released worldwide in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam on September 6.

According to the makers, “Thangalaan” is approaching the 100-crore rupee mark at the worldwide box office.

Malavika Mohanan, Parvathy Thirutothu and Daniel Caltagirone complete the cast of the film, produced by Studio Green.