Vairamuthu Wins Jnanpith Award; Chinmayi And TM Krishna Voice Disappointment

Tamil poet and film lyricist Vairamuthu was recently awarded the Jnanpith honour, one of the country's most prestigious literary awards. Vairumuthu is said to be the third Tamil recipient of this honour in 20 years.

While top Tamil actors, including Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan, congratulated the lyricist-poet on social media, artists such as singer Chinmayi were quick to voice their disappointment. Vairamuthu has been accused of sexual harassment by many women, including Chinmayi, during the Me Too movement.

"In 2018, multiple women of different age groups named one Poet - Lyricist as their molester. Today the Gnanpith is awarded to the man, after someone like Sri Jayakantan, whose daughter called Vairamuthu out for presenting a forged, fake letter by Sri Jayakanthan ‘praising’ Vairamuthu. A committee from Kerala announced him as for the ONV Kurup award which was later ‘returned’ as voices of justice from their society rose to speak against sullying Sri ONV Kurup’s name. The collective voices of the women who named him, were silenced. I paid a very heavy price - the rest of the women who left their dreams behind weren’t half as lucky as I," Chinmayi wrote on X.

She also went on to call out the congratulatory tweets of actors.

Tamil musician and activist TM Krishna, too, criticised the selection. "Awarding Vairamuthu the Jnanpith award legitimises and empowers him while further marginalising all the women who have had the courage to stand up against him. We cannot and should not separate an artist from the art he makes. #metoo," he wrote.

Chinmayi, who was one of the patrons of the MeToo movement from the south, named veteran Tamil poet and film lyricist Vairamuthu as her molester in 2018. It was also then that she publicly supported women who accused Tamil actor Radha Ravi, who was also the then-president of the South Indian Cine, Television Artistes and Dubbing Artistes Union (SICTADAU), which Chinmayi was a part of. This eventually led to Chinmayi’s ban from the dubbing union, which cited her alleged default in payment of the annual subscription fee of a meagre ₹250 as the reason for her expulsion. This further prevented dubbing gigs and, more importantly, singing opportunities in Tamil for the singer.