With more and more women actors coming out in the open revealing their traumatic experiences of sexual harassment in the Malayalam film industry, prominent personalities in Mollywood are going into a panic mood, not knowing when their glamorous cover will be blown away.
These revelations are fast developing into a movement in Mollywood similar to Hiollywood’s # MeToo which was triggered by allegations against Harvey Weinstein, the powerful producer and co-founder of MiraMax Films, in 2017.
Advertisement
On Sunday, the revelations of Bengali actress Sreelekha Mitra and a Malayalam actress led to the resignation of film director Ranjith from the position of chairman of the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy and actor Siddique as general secretary of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA).
The shockwaves that followed the release of the Hema Committee report continued to reverberate on Monday with more women actors coming out with shocking revelations.
Actress Minu Muneer claimed that actors, Mukesh, Maniyan Pilla Raju, Idavela Babu, and Jayasurya had abused her physically and verbally on the sets of a 2013 movie project. She revealed that she also faced abuse from advocate Chandrasekharan, production controller, Vichu Mukesh, CPI-M MLA from Kollam, who is facing another assault charge from casting director Tess Joseph. Tess Joseph, on Saturday, accused Mukesh of inappropriate behaviour during an event some years back.
Actress Geetha Vijayan told the media that she had a bad experience with director Thulasidas in 1991, during the shoot of his film ‘Chanchattan’. She said he inappropriately behaved with her during the filming of the movie Chanchattam.
Another actress Sreevedika also came out with some serious allegations against Thulasidas. She said he had misbehaved with her on the sets of the 2006 movie,’ Avan Chandiiyute Makan’.
Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA) joint secretary Baburaj is also facing such allegations. A junior artist said she was sexually assaulted by the actor at his residence in Aluva a few years ago while offering a role in a film.
Meanwhile, actor Siddique filed a police complaint against actress Revathy Sampath for raising sexual assault allegations against him. In his complaint to the director general of police, he alleged that some agendas are behind the allegations against him.
Revathy Sampath, on Saturday, alleged that Siddique had sexually assaulted her at a hotel in 2016. She said he contacted her through a fake social media account under the guise of discussing a film project in 2016.
In this connection, Bengali actress Sreelekha Mitra filed a sexual assault complaint against film director Ranjith which was sent to the Kochi city police commissioner via email.
Mitra on Friday revealed that Ranjith had misbehaved with her when she came to Kerala for an audition for Ranjith-directed movie ‘Paleri Manikyam’ in 2009. Following this, he resigned from the position of the chairman of Kerala State Chalachitra Academy on Sunday evening.
