Terrified for her safety, Indian actress Sreelekha Mitra remembers pushing chairs and a sofa against her hotel door after she said an award-winning veteran director sexually harassed her.

Mitra waited 15 years to speak out about the incident, one of several cases exposing the dark underbelly of India's Malayalam-language "Mollywood" film industry that has won awards at Cannes.

Her revelation was spurred by an explosive government report documenting widespread sexual harassment in an industry dominated by powerful and wealthy men who believe that an actress willing to kiss on screen would do the same in real life.

"That entire night I stayed awake," Mitra, 51, told AFP.

Mitra was invited to a gathering at the director's house, where she said he lured her into his room for a phone call with a cinematographer.

"He started playing with my hair and neck... I knew if I did not say anything then, his hand would roam around other parts of my body," she said, describing events from 2009, when she was 36.

She left and returned to her hotel.

"The intentions behind his moves were pretty clear to me... I was petrified."

Her case and close to........

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