Women in film industry need dedicated union: Varalaxmi

Chennai, March 2: Actress Varalaxmi Sarath Kumar says she will fight for the formation of a union to address all women-related grievances, including sexual harassment in Tamil filmdom.In her past post, Varalaxmi had revealed that the head of a TV channel tried to harass her.On Wednesday night, via a video message, she said she has decided to start a campaign called Save Shakti, aimed at creating a platform for women in the Tamil industry to talk about their problems.Varalaxmi said: "The response to my post last week was unprecedented. It made me realize that a lot of women are subject to harassment, but they don t speak about it publicly. I wanted this to go beyond a post on social media."She struck upon the idea when she consulted a few lawyers."When I discussed with a few lawyers to find out what can be done practically, I decided to start a campaign - Save Shakti - through which I plan to approach the state government with a series of requests," she said.She wants a specialised court for women and sex offenders."Only then will women be brave enough to even go and file a sexual harassment case. My other request is to reach a verdict in such cases within six months. Finally, I want to form a union exclusively to address all women-related problems across the hierarchy in Tamil industry," she said.Varalaxmi plans to approach the Film Employees Federation of South India (FEFSI) to request the formation of a women s union.On the career front, she is currently shooting for Tamil thriller "Vikram Vedha".