Weeks after #MeToo claim, Sanjjanaa Galrani apologises to director

Bengaluru: In an unexpected move, actor Sanjjanaa Galrani apologised to director Ravi Srivatsa on Tuesday, three weeks after she joined the #MeToo movement accusing him of harassing her during the shooting of the film, Ganda Hendathi.
Galrani had claimed the director had forced her to enact intimate scenes, which she was not comfortable with. They included multiple kissing scenes, which were not demanded by the script, she had said.
The issue had snowballed into a controversy with Srivatsa complaining to the Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce (KFCC) and the Kannada Film Directors Association alleging that Galrani had tarnished his image by making false allegations. Senior Sandalwood actors intervened and held discussions with both the actor and the director even as an informal probe was under way.
Actor Ambareesh requested the actor to apologise for making such ‘baseless allegations’ against a member of the directors’ association of the Kannada film industry. Galrani apologised to Srivatsa at Ambareesh’s residence in the presence of director Roopa Iyer, producer Rockline Venkatesh, association president Nagendra Prasad and others.
During the meeting, the actor said that she had used the #MeToo platform to discuss her ordeal but didn’t mean to offend anyone.
Last month, Galrani had alleged that the director had harassed her during the shooting that happened 13 years ago. The actor had claimed that she had signed up for only one kissing scene but was eventually asked to shoot 15 such scenes. In her statement, she had said her father was ‘ashamed of the way the movie eventually turned out’ and that the director had threatened her and yelled at her.
Angered by these charges, the director had questioned the reason for her silence all these years and the objective behind using #MeToo as a platform. “None of her accusations is worthy. If she belonged to a cultural family as she claims, then why did she sign the film…The script was narrated to her before the shoot…I demand an apology,” Srivatsa had said.
‘Didn’t intend to hurt anyone’
I was very young when it happened to me and was disturbed, but today things are different. My intentions were not to hurt anyone in the industry or members of the directors’ association. I am very sorry
Sanjjanaa Galrani, Sandalwood actor