The #MeToo movement and the subject of consent was back in the limelight again after the historic conviction of Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein in the sexual assault trial on Monday. And right in the middle of this, another video clip surfaced online and was going viral—an interview of south Indian actress Rekha revealing that the kiss she shared with Kamal Haasan in Punnagai Mannan was without her consent.
The scene being referred to is from the 1986 K. Balachander directorial in which Rekha and Kamal play two star-crossed lovers, who jump off a waterfall because their relationship was not being accepted. Speaking about the same to The News Minute, Rekha said: I’ve said this a hundred times. They shot the scene without me knowing about it. People ask me the same question and I’m fed up of answering it.”
Rekha was 16 at the time and said that when she later took it up with the veteran director, he told her to just look at it as a 'big king kissing a small child' and that the scene would not be passed by the Censor. She said that had she known, she would never have agreed to that scene.
Well, the Censor did pass it, and the scene went on to be a powerful one. Rekha added that she understands the impact the kiss had on the totality of the extremely emotional scene, but maintains that she was tricked into it.
The film released over three decades ago and the director passed away in 2014. Rekha said that only Kamal and Balachander knew that the kiss had happened without her consent, and no one apologised to her.
The interview has again kicked up a storm in the post #MeToo era with social media users demanding Kamal apologise to Rekha. “I don’t know about getting an apology but it is a fact that I wouldn’t have said yes to the kiss at that time. They just did the scene suddenly. It’s over now and I don’t want to revisit it," she told The News Minute.
