Hidden by the sheen and sparkle of filmdom, lies a script of pretences. In the make-believe world of movies, illusion rules-in real life, the hero is a villain, the virgin has a sleazy past and the vamp has a heart of gold. Some like Divya Sri and Sravani ran sex rackets themselves, peddling models and actresses. Cops have made numerous such arrests over the years. In June, Chennai Police arrested Tamil actress Sangeetha Balan for running a prostitution racket at a private seaside resort. The most common reasons young girls take the sordid path are ambition, poverty and blackmail. The casting couch is alive and well in tinsel town, and willing actresses are available for the right price at home and abroad. Under the glitz and glamour of celluloid, away from the romance, spotlights and exotic locales, lies a world of sleaze, corruption and blackmail where predators stalk young pulchritudinous hopefuls with promises of stardom. Hence, they are pushed into a prostitution ring or a casting couch situation.” Founder and actor Chetan, who is working to make the Kannada film industry safe for women, says: “When invited abroad for shows, the girls don’t have a support system. Any event manager can invite an actress to perform at cultural shows and will be paid high fees if she agrees to meet clients’ demands.” With rising woman power and social media might, organisations such as FIRE (Film Industry for Rights and Equality) have come up to protect actresses from sexploitation. They have worked closely with many top names in the industry, as well as newcomers.

Popular actress Madhavi ‘Heart’ Latha, who has performed at events organised by the Modugumudis for Telugu organisations in the US, says, “They would send bogus invitations and sponsor fake visas for artistes in the name of performing at cultural programmes. They found that South Indian actresses, models and TV anchors brought by unscrupulous Telugu event organisers to Illinois on B1 and B2 visitor visas were being sent out for sex with customers for $2,000-3,000. These are excerpts from phone messages between Chicago-based event manager couple-Kishan Modugumudi and Chandrakala-and a client seeking the sexual services of a Telugu actress in America, retrieved by US Federal agents monitoring an international prostitution racket. The exposure of an international prostitution ring involving South Indian actresses, models and TV anchors, and the controversial appointment of a Malayalam actor accused of abducting a female colleague have brought the spotlight back on the sexual predators lurking in the underbelly of the southern film world

Crime sex storie magazine malayalam