I'll tackle harassment differently, says Nithya Menen

Popular south Indian actress Nithya Menen says she is against sexual harassment and that she has a different way of countering it. She chose not be a part of a grouping as she prefers to fight it "silently". Recently, actresses like Parvathy and women behind the scenes such as director Anjali Menon got together to launch the “Women in Cinema Collective” to identify the problems faced by women in the Malayalam film industry and explore ways to address them.

In a previous interview, she had stated that she had never faced sexual harassment. But after reading about women from Malayalam cinema getting assaulted and some of her fraternity members forming a collective, didn't she feel like joining them?
"I completely understand the thing that people are facing. I do everything possible to counter it. Just because I am not doing it one way, doesn't mean that I am not countering those things or I am not against it. I am, but I have a different approach," Nithya replied after a long pause during a telephonic interview with IANS.

"I have the same view as everybody else, but I prefer doing it my way. I don't think that somebody is doing anything wrong or I don't want to be a part of it. I am very much part of it. It's just that I have a different way of countering the whole thing," she added in the interview from Thiruvananthapuram, where she will be shooting for the upcoming Malayalam film ‘Kolambi’. Will she walk out of a film if someone from it gets accused of sexual misconduct?
"Absolutely, and I have," said the young actress without naming the film. "I do it, but I do it silently. I have said 'no' to a film because of something like that," said Nithya.

She has many films lined up, including ‘Mission Mangal’ which will mark her debut in Bollywood. "In the past also, I was offered plenty of Hindi films. I just wanted to be as choosy with Hindi as I was with films in other languages that I have done. I wanted it (debut Hindi film) to be a really nice film. I found this a nice character. I don't think we have done a film like this... you know, a space film," said Nithya, who made her debut as a lead actress with Kannada film ‘7 O'Clock’ over a decade ago.

Vidya and Nithya will also be seen together in a biopic on the legendary actor-politician NT Rama Rao. "I met her (Vidya) at the shoot of NTR's biopic. We have one scene together. She said she had watched my films 'OK Kanmani' and 'Bangalore Days'," said Nithya.