Actress Mohini has opened up about a disturbing experience from her career, revealing that she was pressured into performing intimate and swimsuit sequences in director RK Selvamani’s 1994 Tamil film Kanmani without her consent. In a recent interview, Mohini said she initially broke down and refused, but eventually gave in so that the production would not be halted.
‘I cried and refused, but they forced me’
Recalling the incident, Mohini told Aval Vikatan, “Director RK Selvamani planned this swimming suit sequence. I was so uncomfortable, I cried and refused to do it, and the shooting was halted for half a day. I tried to explain that I didn’t even know how to swim! And how could I possibly learn half-dressed in front of male instructors? Back then, female instructors were practically nonexistent. So I couldn’t imagine doing it. It felt like I was forced to do that sequence for Udal Thazhuva.”The actor added that she eventually gave in after the production stalled. “I worked for half a day and gave what they asked. Later, when they said the same scene had to be shot in Ooty, I refused. When they told me the shoot would not continue, I said, ‘That is your problem, not mine. It was in the same way you had forced me to do that earlier.’”
‘Kanmani was the only film where I appeared glamorous without consent’
Mohini noted that Kanmani remained the only film where she appeared “overly glamorous” against her will. “Sometimes things happen against one’s will, and this sequence was one such instance,” she said. Despite finding her role in the film “very beautiful and challenging,” she expressed disappointment that it never received the recognition it deserved.
A prolific career across industries
Over the years, Mohini has shared screen space with some of Indian cinema’s biggest stars, including Sivaji Ganesan, Nandamuri Balakrishna, Chiranjeevi, Mohanlal, Mammootty, Shivarajkumar, Vijayakanth, Vishnuvardhan, Vikram, Ravichandran, Sarathkumar, Mohan Babu, and Suresh Gopi.Her filmography includes notable titles such as Chinna Marumagal, Aditya 369, Hitler, Naadody, Innathe Chintha Vishayam, Sainyam, Vesham, Oru Maravathoor Kanavu, Gadibidi Aliya, and Thayagam. Mohini was last seen in the 2011 Malayalam political action thriller Collector.
