Chennai: Alleging that the father of an actress has kept her in his custody against her wishes, to get her married to a bridegroom of his choice, an actor-producer has approached the Madras High Court.
Shaman Mithru, who played the lead role in Thorati besides producing it, has said in his habeas corpus petition that the film’s heroine Sathya Kala was missing.
The movie is scheduled to be released 2 August and it has already generated positive response from media and industry persons who had watched it. Even as Sathya Kala has come under praise for her performance in the movie, Shaman has approached the court.
He has alleged that Sathya is kept under illegal house arrest by her father Rathinam. According to Shaman, a complaint was filed at Mahalingapuram police station, Pollachi. When the police did not take action, he approached the Madras High Court.
Shaman said Sathya joined the crew as lead actress in 2015 after she was roped in for the character Semponn.
He said, during the shoot, Sathya had shared her personal problems with her colleagues. “She said she had lost her mother and her father Rathinam remarried. Her father and stepmother were against her plans of becoming a model and actress. They agreed when she got the movie offer, but later withdrew support asking her to get married.”
Recently, she had failed to turn up for the press meet of the movie and her phone remained switched off. The crew members went to her house but her parents claimed she was not there.
In his petition, Shaman said Rathinam would have kept her somewhere against her wishes to marry her off to a bridegroom of his choice.
When the plea came up for hearing in court, justices M M Sundresh and Nirmal Kumar asked advocate Karunakaran, arguing the case, as to how the person who filed the PIL was related to the actress and how a daughter under protection of the father could be in illegal custody.
The judges also asked the Mahalingapuram police to respond to the petition and posted the case to 5 August for further hearing.