A week after singer Chinmayi was expelled from the South Indian Cine, Television Artistes and Dubbing Artistes Union, she has given clarifications on allegations that she had not paid her membership fee to the body.
In a 19-minute video published on her YouTube page, Chinmayi said that she had, in fact, paid a lifetime membership fee of Rs 5,000, in excess of the prescribed amount.
“Their telling me that my membership automatically expired because I did not pay the subscription fee is false. Because I have paid the lifetime membership fee,” she says.
“In 2006, February 11, I have a bank transfer that has gone out to the dubbing union for the payment of a lifetime membership fee. It is pegged at Rs 2,500 in the by-law book which is in Tamil. But they asked me to pay Rs 5,000 and I paid it. They have not given me a receipt for it. One week later, they have also released a payment for a film that I had dubbed for, after reducing 10 percent.”
Chinmayi admits that neither the union nor she, followed up to get a receipt for the payment.
As part of the MeToo movement, Chinmayi had lent her support to women who had spoken out against alleged harassment by veteran actor Radha Ravi who heads the union. Chinmayi had also accused Tamil lyricist Vairamuthu of sexual misconduct, leading to much debate in the Tamil film industry. The singer had come under huge pressure and many people within and outside the industry targeted her.
Her termination from the dubbing union comes close on the heels of women in the industry speaking up, leaving no doubts that this was the cost to pay.
In the video, Chinmayi adds that in March this year, the dubbing union had released a list of 97 members, including her, who would not be eligible to vote in the General Body elections as they had not paid the membership fee of Rs 180. However, she points out that only her membership had been terminated.
Soon after she announced on Twitter that her membership had been axed by the dubbing union, Radha Ravi told TNM that the singer was only allowed to continue dubbing because she was popular. This did not, however, stop the union from continuing to take their cut.
"Chinmayi was not allowed to vote this time during the dubbing union elections because she is not a member of the union. Judge Vasuki, who oversaw the elections, told us she cannot be a member since she has not been paying her membership fee. I don’t know how things were run two years ago, I've just come to power. For the past two years, she had been exempted and allowed to dub only because she's a well-known artiste,” Radha Ravi had said.
Further explaining that the the dubbing union takes a 10 percent cut off an artiste’s salary, Chinmayi was reportedly informed that while half of it goes to the dubbing in-charge-cum-PRO who manages the artistes, the other half goes to the dubbing union welfare fund. The last film that Chinmayi dubbed for was the superhit 96 which released in October 2018.
Members of the dubbing union, who had questioned the 10 percent cut were promptly shown the door by Radha Ravi, who many have alleged runs the union like a mafia.
(This story was first published in The News Minute and has been reposted with permission.)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)