Tammareddy Bharadwaja: Some produce films solely to use women

While Megastar Chiranjeevi recently stated that the casting couch does not exist in the Telugu film industry, senior producer and director Tammareddy Bharadwaja has offered a starkly different perspective. Bharadwaja, who has produced and directed several films including projects with Chiranjeevi in the early years of his career, asserted that harassment of women has been a long-standing reality and cannot be brushed aside.

Speaking candidly, Tammareddy said that certain producers bankroll films not out of a passion for cinema but to exploit women under the pretext of the casting process. He traced the issue back to the early days of cinema, recalling that while things were relatively orderly initially, the scenario changed over the years, making films purely to misuse their power and exploit women.

According to him, the situation improved after a few years and was comparatively better during his active years. However, he noted that even then, around 5–10 percent of women faced harassment.

Referring to the present scenario, Tammareddy pointed out that nearly 200 films are being made every year, and in several cases, it is unclear why certain people are producing films at all. He alleged that some of them do so only to exploit women and serve ulterior motives, while genuinely committed directors and actors who are passionate about filmmaking consciously stay away from such practices.