Popular singer Chinmayi Sripaada has said her mother told her to stay quiet when she wanted to speak up about lyricist Vairamuthu, and that she did not have the courage to make the accusations at first. She made the admission in an interview with Tamareddy Bharadwaj, where she spoke frankly about the #MeToo movement, workplace harassment and the silence that surrounds both.

Chinmayi said she has been speaking about social issues on social media since 2000. She was clear that she did not start the #MeToo movement. That credit, she said, belongs to Raya Sarkar, and the movement gained wider attention after women such as Tanushree Dutta publicly exposed the harassment they faced in the film industry.

She also addressed the pressure women face at work. Women, she said, are often up against unnecessary extra expectations. Not every workplace demands this, she added, but some people impose it on women anyway. She described this as one reason the industry is viewed differently from the outside.

Seventeen Years, One Name

Then came the detail that has drawn the most attention. Over her 17-year career, Chinmayi said, only Vairamuthu had behaved inappropriately with her. Nobody else, she stated plainly.

Speaking out against him was not easy. She said she did not have enough courage at first, so she went to her mother for advice. The answer was blunt, and it stayed with her.

’Why do you need this trouble? Keep quiet and sit at home.’

Her friends offered a different kind of advice. They told her to share other people’s stories instead of coming forward with her own, and to avoid stepping out alone.

Chinmayi said she eventually decided that if the movement was going to be honest, she had to tell her own story too. She had noticed that others were afraid to put their names on their experiences. Her decision, she suggested, was partly about giving them a reason to stop hiding.

Others Have Spoken Too

Chinmayi is not the only woman who has made allegations against Vairamuthu. She pointed to Sindhu Rajaraman, a singer and sound engineer based in the US, and to Bhuma Sesan. Both, she explained, first shared their bitter experiences anonymously. Later, both came forward publicly.

These are allegations, and the interview is Chinmayi’s own account of events. She did not present them as a court finding, and her claims should be read as hers.

She was also clear that harassment is not confined to cinema. She said sexual harassment is widespread in many other fields as well, and that the film industry is only one part of a much larger problem.

A Political and Caste Narrative

Chinmayi said that in Tamil Nadu, her allegations were given a political and caste colour. According to her, a narrative was built that portrayed her as someone from the Brahmin community seeking revenge on Vairamuthu. She criticised that framing sharply.

She insisted she was not alone in speaking out. She said seven or eight other women had also come forward, and that the focus on her as an individual had obscured what they were saying.

Teaching Children Early

Toward the end of the interview, Chinmayi turned to sex education, and she made a point of separating it from what she was actually asking for. Children, she said, need to be taught about good touch and bad touch from a young age. She said this is not about promoting sexual education. It is about helping children understand what is wrong and what is right.

Society, she argued, is ignoring a major problem. She expressed hope that this kind of social change will have a profound impact in the future. Her message was less about one name or one industry and more about the years it takes for silence to break.