Times of India 
 
 Chennai, Oct 17: A director slapping the lead female actor for "not emoting" is nothing novel in the charged sets of Tamil shoots.

But this time when director Sami slapped Padmapriya, the industry decided to bar him from making movies for the next one year.

Padmapriya, a South Indian actress, filed a complaint over the weekend with Federation of Film Workers, Tamil Film Producers' Council and South Indian Artistes Association that she was slapped by the director on the last day of shooting for Tamil film Mirugam (Animal).

His earlier films include Satham Podade (Don't make noise) and Uyir (Life).

"He called it a day and we packed. Suddenly, he just slapped me. It was unprovoked and I was shocked," said Padmapriya. She also alleged that he has been continuously harassing actors during the film's shooting.

"His verbal abuses were unbearable. I don't want to call it sexual abuse, but it was surely bad behaviour," she said.

The film associations held a joint meeting on Monday night, where the director admitted that he had slapped the actress. "I slapped her because she did not emote. It's nothing new in the industry. We have our own tensions," he told TOI.

Actress Revathy was allegedly slapped by director Bharathiraja during the shooting for the climax scene of her debut film Manvasanai. She then cried, as scripted, but without having to use glycerine.

Senior artistes and directors from the association said they were forced to take stern action as they wanted professionalism in the industry.