After Khushboo, Sushmita Sen, Shilpa Shetty and Reema Sen, Tamil Nadu’s moral/political activists are now gunning for actor Shreya. A short skirt that she wore to a function to mark the silver jubilee run of Sivaji, the superhit where she was paired opposite Rajnikant, has ruffled their feathers.

The Hindu Makkal Katchi, a breakaway group of the Hindu Munani, has filed a police complaint against the actor, accusing her of “dressing in a manner that offended Hindu culture”. Among those present at the function where Shreya wore the reportedly offensive dress were Rajnikant and other top actors, film directors and producers, apart from Chief Minister M Karunanidhi himself.

With the treatment meted out to Khushboo — who is yet to live down her safe sex remarks — on her mind, Shreya was quick to apologise. She said she had been shooting in Istanbul before she boarded a flight for Mumbai and then to Chennai to make it to the function on time and had not paid much attention to her dress. “I apologise profusely if I have inadvertently hurt anybody’s sentiments,” she said.

Shreya had the example of Khushboo before her, who has been fighting a lonely battle against the moral police with no film association ever coming out in support of her. Even her close friends have chosen to distance themselves.

Less than a week back, Khushboo got a taste of the harassment again when she was nearly gheraoed after she broke down at a public function recalling how she had been treated by activists of the PMK and the Dalit Panthers of India (DPI), who had formed the Tamil Protection Movement, for her remarks on safe sex. Among those present at the function was the Chief Minister’s daughter, Rajya Sabha MP and a poet herself, Kanimozhi.

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