Producer Thiagarajan, who was accused of sexual misconduct by photographer Pretika Menon, denied the allegations against him in a conversation with Silverscreen. Thiagarajan said that he was made aware of the matter by an acquaintance and that he is shocked that such a “blatantly false allegation” has been made. “I am trying to decide what to do about this. For now, I would like to register my complete and utter denial of all such allegations.”
On Friday, in a Facebook post, photographer Pretika Menon said that she was asked to step in and shoot a coffee table book on the movie Ponnar Shankar in 2011, in the place of a friend who could not make it to the shoot. The movie crew shot the film in Coimbatore. The men outnumbered her, Menon wrote in her account. Initially, Menon said that Thiagarajan and his actor son Prashanth were very nice to her. But soon, Thiagarajan made her uncomfortable with his behaviour on the sets.
Thiagarajan is said to have spoken to Menon about his extra marital affairs. Later, he reportedly told her that he could make her the next Aishwarya Rai. Besides this, Thiagarajan attempted to enter the photographer’s room when she was unwell, under the pretext of giving her medication.
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In the post, Menon went on to add that Thiagarajan terminated her services once she rebuffed him. She was insulted on the sets and sent away without being reimbursed for her services. She also wrote that Thiagarajan alleged she might sell the images from the sets of Ponnar Shankar to someone else. “So I got kicked off the sets for not sleeping with the director, but with my body and mind intact. They never paid me or answered my calls and I never gave them the images.”
Silverscreen was unable to reach Pretika Menon. This article will be updated once she responds.