Public anger is mounting after actor Gouri Kishan was forced to take on sexist remarks from journalists, with little help from her co-star or director, at a promotional press meet on November 6. “You are sexualising a female character. This is not journalism. What you are doing is a disgrace to your profession,” Gouri said.
Gouri, who was promoting her new film, Others, confronted a cinema reporter now identified as RS Karthik. The reporter provocatively asked the director, Abin Hariharan, about what he described as an “odd” pairing of lead actors, claiming they were both “disproportionate” to each other in height and weight. When called out, Karthik insisted he’d done nothing wrong and attempted to shout down Gouri.
Gouri promptly recalled that the same reporter had asked a similar question in an even blunter manner during an earlier interview. She condemned the question as body-shaming.
Karthik had previously asked if the hero, Aditya Madhavan, had found Gouri “too heavy” to lift for a sequence in the film. “Aren’t you the same person who asked me about my weight? What is your weight?” she asked.
Karthik runs a YouTube channel called Vere Level Cinema.
Karthik aggressively countered, “What was wrong with my question? These are questions that are regularly asked.” Referring disrespectfully to Gouri as “that girl”, Karthik went on to complain to the director in front of her: “When I ask her weight, she asks my weight. Am I an actor?”
He further belittled Gouri, claiming, “She doesn’t understand Tamil. My question is so interesting.” Gouri is from Kerala but was brought up in Tamil Nadu. She made her debut in the Tamil film 96 (2018).
Karthik also claimed he’d been a reporter for 25 years and that he’d asked the question from the perspective of the movie-going audience.
Another man in the room jumped to Karthik’s defence, asking why Gouri hadn’t objected to the questions regarding her weight earlier. At one moment, several men in the room were raising their voices against Gouri at the same time. Director Abin Hariharan did nothing to intervene even at this point but simply attempted to placate Karthik.
Left alone to defend herself in a room full of men, Gouri said, “Firstly, what you asked is body-shaming. There is no woman here. I am being targeted just because I am a woman. Every woman has a different body type. Do you know what problems I have? Do you know if I have hormonal issues? If I am the heroine, do I have to be size zero? What are you going to do knowing my weight? It’s irrelevant to the film.”
Karthik insultingly then asked her, “Let’s see you say both your height and weight are well-matched?”
Gouri countered, “Casting is the director’s choice. Who are you to question that?”
Doubling down, Karthik added, “Just say you will reduce your weight. What you are doing is wrong.”
Gouri was also forced to question another man attempting to silence her by saying, “Okay, okay. Let’s talk about the movie.”
She replied, “What is okay? He [Karthik] is shouting at me and keeps interrupting. I have a perspective too. With all due respect to the press here, I am not generalising. But why is body-shaming normalised? Why are women actors always asked this question? Will you ask a hero the same question?”
She further said, “Were there any questions about the characters I’ve played? There were zero questions about the doctor character I play in Others. He [Karthik] only wants to know my weight. How is that correct? You indirectly asked the hero my weight. It is wrong and a stupid question. You are sexualising a female character. This is not journalism. What you are doing is a disgrace to your profession.”
While she was let down by the director and co-star, Gouri found solidarity from others.
Popular playback singer Chinmayi shared a clipping of the appalling incident, saying that Gouri did an “amazing job”.
“The moment you call out a disrespectful and an unnecessary question – a whole lot of shouting down happens. So proud that someone so young stood her ground and pushed back. No male actor gets asked what his weight is. No idea why they asked a female actor,” Chinmayi added.
Actor Aditya Madhavan apologised for not standing up for Gouri. “My Silence didn’t mean I approve of body shaming of anyone. I froze because it caught me off guard, as it is my debut. I wish I’d stepped in sooner. She didn’t deserve that. No one does. Everyone deserves respect, regardless of who we are. I apologise once again,” he said.
Actor Khushbu Sundar said, “Journalism has lost its ground. The so-called journos take journalism to the gutters. How much a woman weighs is none of their business. And asking the hero about it?? What a shame!”
Congratulating Gouri for standing her ground, Khushbu added, “Are the same men ok if we women, actors, turn around and ask the same question about the women in their families? Respect is never one-way traffic. Learn to give respect if you expect to be respected.
Director Pa Ranjith also spoke out for Gouri, saying, “More power to you. I strongly condemn the reporter's actions. They are unacceptable and shameful. That female actors still have to face these indecent questions goes to show the distance Thamizh cinema has yet to go.”
Actor Kavin also extended his solidarity and wrote, “Inside and out, you’re beautiful and inspiring, Gouri :) Always stay the same.
Senior Associate Editor at Frontline RK Radhakrishnan also condemned the reporter’s obnoxious behaviour.
“I stand with Gowri Kishan. The reporter had no business asking about her weight to the movie hero. He and almost all the disgraceful journalists on the scene tried to shout Gowri down. She stood her ground. This is one of the best pushbacks I’ve seen in Tamil cinema!”