Koratala Siva Reacts To Sri Reddy’s Casting Couch Allegations 

Hyderabad: Sri Reddy created a storm in Tollywood after alleging casting couch in the industry. She also leaked whatsapp conversations with well known cine personalities claiming them to be authentic. It may be recalled that Sri Reddy had also taken the name of Bharat Ane Nenu director Koratala Siva during one of her interviews.

The director has reacted to her allegation, saying, “I got wind of it when I was busy with the post production work of Bharat Ane Nenu. My friends told me that it's only a gossip and not be bothered about it."

He added,"How can I not be bothered, everyone knows how I am as a person. I was appalled to hear my name. Never in my life have I encouraged casting couch. Ask the actors in my movies how I treat them. I don’t differentiate between actor and actress, in fact I treat them as humans."

Koratala went on to add that he travelled with two persons in his life—his mother, a single parent, and then his wife. He adds that their influence is tremendous on him. "My wife doesn't even like harsh element in my films, making me stay utmost careful. Even Swami Vivekananda was not spared from controversy, so this is part and parcel of life.

“One should fight against casting couch and my support is always there to remove this evil. I will only be at peace after giving my version,” said Koratala.

It may be noted here that the Movie Artistes’ Association (MAA), which had banned Sri Reddy earlier, revoked the ban later and constituted a Committee Against Sexual Harassment (CASH) to handle any such case. The National Human Rights’ Commission (NHRC) took suo moto notice of the incident and sought an explanation from the film Chamers of commerce and Telangana government.