‘Sorry, was in shock’: Gouri Kishan's director, co-star say they ‘froze’ when she was body shamed after receiving flak

Gouri Kishan's director, Abin Hariharan, and co-star, Aditya Madhavan break their silence after receiving flak for not supporting her.

Tamil actor Gouri Kishan recently called out YouTuber Karthik for asking questions about her weight to her director, Abin Hariharan, and co-star Aditya Madhavan at a press meet for their film Others. Abin and Aditya both received flak after it for not stepping in and standing up for her in the moment. Both broke their silence and claimed to have been ‘taken off guard’ when the incident happened. (Also Read: Gouri Kishan says journalist was ‘appalled’ she called him out; he doubles down and says ‘should I ask her about Trump?’)

Aditya Madhavan and Abin Hariharan released statements after receiving flak for not supporting Gouri Kishan.

Aditya Madhavan claims he froze

Chinmayi Sripaada shared a clip of Gowri calling out the YouTuber on X (formerly Twitter) and wrote, “Gowri did an amazing job. The moment you call out a disrespectful and an unnecessary question - a whole lot of shouting down happens. So proud that someone so young stood her ground and pushed back. No male actor gets asked what his weight is. No idea why they asked a female actor.”

Aditya re-shared the clip on X and explained his silence in the moment. He acknowledged that he should’ve spoken up sooner, writing, “Hi to all, My Silence didn’t mean I approve body shaming of anyone. I froze because it caught me off guard as it is my debut. I wish I’d stepped in sooner. She didn’t deserve that. No one does. Everyone deserves respect, regardless of who we are. I apologise once again.”

Abin Hariharan apologises

Abin released a video on Instagram, which he captioned, “Sometimes, when conflicts strike unexpectedly, words lose direction. It’s not speechlessness — it’s just the space we take to understand what truly deserves our voice. I STAND WITH GOURI.”

He said in the video, “I noticed that many people questioned why I didn’t speak up there. I am sorry because it was a shock for me too. I haven’t attended many press conferences, and I kept quiet because I thought if I spoke up while Gouri was speaking, it would turn into a bigger issue.”

Abin also added, “I stand with Gouri, and I believe that in such press meets, any questions beyond the film should be avoided. You can see in my film how much I respect women; no actress has had a cliche role in it.”

Gouri also spoke about the incident to the press afterwards and pointed out how her team didn’t stand with her in the moment, stating that the YouTuber was appalled she called him out.