Premium

Ashwini Nambiar, Manichitrathazhu’s Alli, accuses a Malayalam director of sexually harassing her as a teenager: ‘He was old enough to be my father’

Consumed by self-blame, Ashwini Nambiar revealed that she took sleeping pills that night.

Ashwini Nambiar worked in movies headlined by industry bigwigs like Mohanlal, Mammootty, Chiranjeevi and Vijayakanth in the 1990s. (Credit: Instagram/@officially_ashwini)

(Trigger warning: This article contains description of sexual harassment. Reader discretion advised) Once a beloved young star in South Indian cinema, Ashwini Nambiar, also known as Rudra, stepped away from the spotlight for nearly a decade after her marriage. She returned to the public eye through television serials in 2017 and recently made a significant comeback to cinema, playing a powerful role in the streaming crime thriller series Suzhal: The Vortex.

Now, the actor has come forward to share a harrowing experience she faced in the past while working on a Malayalam film. Alleging that a director called her to his room under the pretext of discussing an important matter, Ashwini revealed that he later behaved inappropriately with her. Choosing not to name him, she recounted the incident in a conversation with IndiaGlitz Tamil: “He’s a big director. One day, he called me to his office to discuss something about the film. At that time, my mother always accompanied me everywhere. Unfortunately, she was unwell that day, so a female hairdresser went with me instead. The director lived in an independent house. While we were waiting in his office on the ground floor, one of his employees came and told us that he was upstairs and asked me to go meet him there.”

Also Read | When Sreenivasan made Rajinikanth cry: ‘He was so emotional that he hugged me for a very long period’

Although Ashwini urged the hairdresser to come along, the latter hesitated, unsure if she should intrude on a meeting between an actor and a director. “I was a teenager at the time and I remember childishly skipping up the staircase. When I reached upstairs, no one was there and then I heard a voice from the bedroom, asking me to come in. Since I had already worked in his film, I had no reason to doubt his intentions and stepped inside. There, he misbehaved with me. I went in as an innocent teenager and came out as someone completely different. It took me some time to even comprehend what had happened. I kept wondering if it was my fault — if I had, somehow, given him the opportunity,” she shared.

Ashwini also mentioned that her mother was devastated upon learning about the incident. Consumed by self-blame, the actor revealed that she took sleeping pills that night. “However, I was rushed to the hospital and saved. My mother later reassured me that what happened was not my fault. The man who did this wasn’t even some young chap; he was old enough to be my father,” she added.

ICYMI | ‘India Kareena Kapoor ki sunta hai’: Aman Gupta stabs himself in the heart as Vineeta Singh explains importance of celebrity brand ambassadors on Shark Tank India

Ashwini made her acting debut in the Tamil film Pudhu Nellu Pudhu Naathu and went on to work in films headlined by industry bigwigs like Mohanlal, Mammootty, Chiranjeevi and Vijayakanth in the 1990s. However, she later took a break from films and moved to Singapore to focus on her family. At the peak of her career, she starred in blockbusters like Manichitrathazhu, Kauravar, Butterflies, Dhruvam, Pavithram and Hitler, earning a reputation as a lucky charm in the industry. Her performance as Alli in Manichitrathazhu earned Ashwini significant praise.