Director Suraj has apologized to Tamannaah and the entire heroine community in the Tamil film industry for his offensive remarks on actresses in his recent video interview to a YouTube channel Cinema Pesalam. “If you need to prove your acting skills, go to television serials. If you are working in commercial films, you have to please the low-class audience. If my costume designer gives clothes that cover the knee, I would ask him to cut it,” said Suraj.
Tamannaah Bhatia, angered by Suraj’s lewd remarks, issued a statement on her Twitter page. “This is 2016 and its very ironic that l had to leave
a film like Dangal in the middle which is on woman empowerment to tackle this issue. I am very hurt and angered by the comments made by my director Suraaj and I would definitely want him to apologise not only to me but to the entire women in the industry. We are actors and are here to act and entertain the audiences and should not at any point be objectified as commodities. I have been working in the South industry for over 11 yrs and have worn costumes, which I have been comfortable with. It is sad that women in our country are spoken about so frivolously and would like to tell my audiences that our industry should not be generalised due to comments made by one such individual,” her statement reads.
Director Suraj swiftly offered his apology in an official statement. “I AM REALLY SORRY AND WOULD LIKE TO APOLOGISE TO TAMANNAH AND ALL THE HEROINES IN THE INDUSTRY. MY INTENTION WAS NOT TO SHOW ANYONE IN BAD LIGHT OR HURT THEIR SENTIMENTS. I AM SORRY 0NCE AGAIN & TAKE BACK MY COMMENTS,” said Suraj.