Jaggesh, Harshika question #MeToo wave in Sandalwood

Actor-politician backs Sarja

Actor-turned-politician Jaggesh and actress Harshika Poonacha on Tuesday questioned the motive behind MeToo movement in Sandalwood.

While Jaggesh raised his voice in support of Arjun Sarja, Harshika targeted actresses using their femininity as a tool for publicity on her Facebook wall by dubbing their effort “#metooforpublicity”.

Jaggesh said, “Arjun Sarja is an actor who has adopted simplicity in his lifestyle just after Dr Rajkumar and Dr Vishnuvardhan. He is very polite, well behaved and a cultured gentleman.

“By the latest allegations, 35 years of his film career has taken a hit. I am not against anyone. I stand for women and their right. In the meantime, I also think Shruti would have raised the issue when the incident happened. Won’t it look like a pre-planned attempt to tarnish the image of an individual to pass allegations after so many days?”

Many versatile actors such as B Saroja Devi, Khushboo, Tara and director Prem have stood for Arjun Sarja in the row. However, Harshika Poonacha condemned the actors who are raising their voice against the issue after so many days.

In a Facebook post, Harshika wrote, “Most of these so called activist actresses do everything when they badly need a push in the initial stages of their careers (get cast in good films, make money, network, travel, luxurious life etc).

“By giving all the freedom to these men, they now accuse (them) for publicity. They start targeting the same men (with whom) they were smiling and walking hand in hand! I personally have seen these so called great activist actresses smoking ganja, having a great time in their song shoots in foreign countries, falling on famous men (actors from other industries, producers, real estate barons etc at big award functions in Malaysia, Dubai, Singapore etc) and doing things that I do not want to mention here.”