Chinmayi receives love for singing at Thug Life event; fans call ban on her ‘Tamil cinema's loss'

Hindustan Times

2 days ago

Singer Chinmayi Sripada recently sang at the audio launch of Mani Ratnam's Thug Life after being ousted from the South Indian Cine, Television Artistes and Dubbing Artistes Union (SICTADAU) since the #MeToo movement in 2018. An outpouring of love has come her way now, with many calling her ban from the industry a 'loss' for Tamil cinema. (Also Read: Why has no actor in Kollywood spoken up for Chinmayi Sripada, asks Radhika Sarathkumar)
Chinmayi sang at the recently held pre-release event for Thug Life in Chennai. She sang her version of Muththa Mazhai, which was sung by Dhee for the film. AR Rahman composed the film's music, and Siva Ananth wrote the lyrics. The film's lead stars, Kamal Haasan, Silambarasan TR and Trisha Krishnan, were present at the event where Chinmayi performed. Kamal even seemed to enjoy Chinmayi's rendition of the song.
Since videos of the performance found their way on the internet, fans have showered Chinmayi with love. 'Awesome @Chinmayi you deserve much better it's not your loss tamil cinema's loss. Your dubbing in Leo was good,' commented one fan on X (formerly Twitter). Another wrote on YouTube, 'Petition to release this song (chinmayi version!!' A fan commented, 'ARR definitely knew what he was doing when he let chinmayi perform in the audio launch.' Numerous others asked for Chinmayi's version of the song.
One fan wrote, 'They can blacklist a name... But they can't blacklist a voice that healed millions..' and another X user agreed, 'Watching the TL filled with positive, praise, support posts for @Chinmayi feels so happy!! But this momentary things are not enough.. SHE DESERVES JUSTICE. A Woman being punished with a ban now for 7 years by a Man for calling out the creeps in the industry and for supporting the victims is such a shame..' A fan wrote, 'What a shame that Tamil film industry is missing out on using such an awesome singer ..what a performance and voice!!!!...she stood up for a cause and is still fighting for it.'
During India's #MeToo movement in 2018, Chinmayi called out Vairamuthu for sexually abusing her and highlighted claims made against others within the music industry. She was removed from the South Indian Cine, Television Artistes and Dubbing Artistes Union (SICTADAU) after she came out in support of the women who had named Radha Ravi, president of the dubbing union.
When she was recently asked how she worked in 96 and Leo despite the ban, she explained on X, '96 was before the Metoo broke out. Leo - I was hired despite the ban and Radha Ravi's Union tried to find out who recorded me so that they can ban the Recording Engineer as well. Nobody has the bandwidth to fight these battles when a film is about to release. Radha Ravi sends a diktat to all the Unions to say a person is banned so other Unions should NOT hire them as well. Many have gone through the same. Incidentally AnbAriv were also banned by their Union. But they were given relief by the Court. I have been fighting my case for 6+ years. That's how it works.'