IANS
Varalaxmi Sarath Kumar said that actresses shouldn't be judged based on what they wear on screen.
Varalaxmi didn't directly comment on the recent incident involving the kidnap and alleged assault on a popular Malayalam actress, but shared a haunting incident from her own life.
"I was in a meeting with the programming head of a leading TV channel. Towards the end of the half hour meeting, he asked me, 'So when can we meet outside?' To which I replied, 'Regarding some other work?' He said, 'No... for other things'.
"I hide my shock and anger and tell him, 'Sorry, please leave'. His last words were 'So, that's all?'," Varalaxmi shared on her Twitter page.
She said the common reaction from people both within the industry and outside when they hear such things, is that they assume the film industry is like this.
"My response is this. I didn't come to the industry to be treated like a piece of meat. I love acting; it's my profession of choice. I work hard and I'm good at my work. I don't want to choose the option of 'put up with it or quit it'," she said.
She wants women to be treated equally with men.
"Instead of lecturing women on what to wear, how to speak, and how to behave appropriately, how about we start telling our men to start seeing women as strong, free, capable individuals and their equals? Teach the men to be better people. All parents need to start this at home," she added.