Malayalam film industry rocks with #MeToo allegations as Siddique resigns and more

Gulf News

Manjusha Radhakrishnan, Entertainment Editor, breaks down how the Hema Committee Report is shaking up Malayalam cinema  Read the full story here: https://gulfnews.com/entertainment/south-indian/justice-hema-committee-findings-tovino-thomas-and-prithviraj-speak-up-as-kerala-film-industry-caught-in-metoo-storm-1.1724662088168  See more videos at https://gulfnews.com/videos Read more Gulf News stories here: https://bit.ly/2HLJ2km

Transcript

00:00Good evening, this is Manjusha Radhakrishnan and I'm the entertainment editor for Gulf

00:09News.

00:10Today I'm here to talk about what's happening in the Kerala film industry.

00:13Currently, there is a Me Too movement that's gathering steam in the Kerala film industry.

00:19And I'll tell you how it all began.

00:21It began in 2017 when a popular actress was sexually assaulted in a moving car and the

00:27entire sordid episode was caught on camera.

00:31She filed a complaint, a police complaint, the case is still under trial.

00:34And one of the accused against her was actor Dilip.

00:40He's one of the accused as well.

00:42At that point, the Amma organization, which is like a collective body of actors, went

00:48on to take a very soft stand against actor Dilip.

00:51Therefore, all the women, the powerful women in the Kerala film industry, actresses like

00:56Parvati Thiruvoth, the Bangalore Days filmmaker Anjali Menon, Reema Kalingal, and actresses

01:04Ramyaan Ambishan, etc., came together and formed a collective called the Women in Cinema

01:09Collective.

01:10They also called for an investigation into the inner workings of the Kerala film industry,

01:17especially against female actors.

01:19So the Justice Hema Commission was formed to investigate into the issue.

01:23And after a four-year wait, the findings were revealed earlier this week.

01:29Some of the findings and observations made into the more than 200 pages report was very

01:37incriminating.

01:39It said that there's a powerful mafia made up of powerful male actors, directors and

01:45technicians that control the Malayalam film industry.

01:48Any woman who says that she was sexually abused at work or there was an inappropriate advance

01:52made against her while she was working on a film set was immediately cancelled or penalized

01:58because they were withdrawing work from her.

02:00They were immediately cancelled by these powerful men.

02:03It also said that apart from casting couch and there were no changing rooms, there were

02:08also instances where female actors had to undergo severe trauma when male actors or

02:15technicians knocked on their doors late at night demanding sex for work.

02:21Now, all this incriminating evidence has come to a boil and several developments have now

02:29taken place.

02:30The fallout was very quick.

02:32Just like how in Hollywood, when Harvey Weinstein, the producer and the top Hollywood mogul was

02:40toppled after the MeToo allegations when women came forward and spoke about their experiences

02:45where he sexually assaulted them, a similar thing is happening where actors like

02:50Siddique and against Mukesh etc. are being made.

02:54In fact, Siddique is the general secretary of the association called Amma.

02:58A few days earlier, he called a press conference claiming there was no casting couch in Malayalam cinema.

03:03He dismissed, he said he welcomed the findings of the Hema committee report, took a very diplomatic

03:09stand and said that no complaint, official complaint was never ever made to any to his

03:14organization, Amma, and therefore it's the police who has to take a stand, etc.

03:19So he kind of washed his hands of the entire thing.

03:22But today, he has resigned from his post when a woman called Revati Sampath, when she was

03:2921 years old, she claimed that she was sexually assaulted by Siddique in a hotel room.

03:34He has now resigned as the general secretary of Amma, which is a huge thing.

03:39I mean, so far there has been no accountability at all.

03:42I mean, these claims are made, the women are ignored.

03:45That's how it usually rolled.

03:47But suddenly you see a bit of movement, a bit of change perhaps happening.

03:52Even actor Mukesh, who's very popular, a woman has come forward claiming that she was also assaulted.

03:58Several notable actors, male actors have now been accused of sexual misconduct.

04:03It's also interesting to note that none of the major superstars like Mohanlal, Mammootty,

04:09Prithviraj, Dhulkar, Fahad Fazal has openly commented on the Hema findings report.

04:14It's very shocking.

04:16Anjali Menon, Revati, etc. or an actress Urvashi, they have come out in the open saying that

04:22they welcome the findings of the Hema Commission report and that the change has to begin now.

04:29Men who are accused of sexual misconduct should be penalized and not the women.

04:34What's also interesting to note is that I remember doing an interview with actor Mohanlal

04:39in 2019 in Dubai, where he dismissed it as a fad.

04:44He called Me Too a fad and how he dismissed the entire thing saying that it's just a fashion thing.

04:49It will pass.

04:50It's also interesting to note that none of the filmmakers or major film stars like Prithviraj,

04:55Mohanlal, Mammootty, Fahad Fazal, Dhulkar Salman have come forward and commented on

05:01the Hema Commission report or the instances of sexual misconduct at their workplace.

05:06It takes me back to the interview that I had with the beloved actor, top actor Mohanlal,

05:12who's also the president of the organization called Amma.

05:15He hasn't come out with any statement so far.

05:18My interview with him was all about him calling Me Too a fad.

05:23You should go to Gulf News and check out the interview.

05:26It's very interesting to watch his dismissive stand against it.

05:29But what's interesting now, that was back in 2019.

05:33Now, a few years later, things seem to have changed.

05:36The scenes, the Hema Commission findings have actually triggered and reignited the Me Too movement.

05:43Suddenly, women are coming forward.

05:45And in the next few days, I'm expecting several women to come forward.

05:48Even the ones who earlier made complaints on Facebook or towards WCC or towards Amma,

05:55they may come forward and call out names.

05:58I'm expecting, today Siddique has resigned.

06:00Filmmaker Ranjith has resigned when a Bengali actress, Sri Lekha,

06:05has actually come forward and said he made inappropriate advances against her

06:12when she went to his home to talk about a project.

06:14So he has stepped out from a position of power.

06:18Siddique has resigned as the gen-sec of Amma.

06:22So this is just the beginning of things.

06:24I think several other key figures from Kerala film industry are going to be called out in the next few days.

06:30Watch this space for more.

06:31We have been following the story from day one.

06:34In fact, I've spoken to Thiruvoth about it and how she's lost work.

06:38Because she spoke up for several years.

06:41She had to go through several challenges because she dared to speak up.

06:46And I've spoken to actresses like Revathi who said Mohanlal's dismissive comment

06:53and labelling me too as a fad was very shocking.

06:57So we have followed this issue for a long time.

07:00Stay tuned to Gulf News and you can find out what's happening.

07:03We are keeping our ears and eyes to the ground to give you the latest news

07:08on what's happening in the Kerala film industry, which is known for great films.

07:13But right now, it's not a proud moment for their cinema.

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Transcript

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