Usually, after a strong earthquake, a few tremors occur around the epicenter. They create some panic and go sans causing any casualty. However, after the earthquake unleashed by the Hema Committee report, tremors of the highest magnitude continue to shake the Malayalam film industry. Every day, more actresses come forward and tell the media about the sexual abuse they faced from senior actors, filmmakers, technicians, and others. Consequently, heads have started to roll.
The first one to resign from (or lose?) the comfortable position is Renjith, the legendary filmmaker and State Chalachitra Academy chairman. (Chalachitra, the Malayalam word, means movie.) He quit the position in the wake of serious allegations raised by the famous Bengali movie actress Sreelekha Mitra. She alleged that Renjith behaved in an ‘undesirable style’ and misbehaved with her when she went to meet him to discuss a film project in 2009. She said she felt bad and communicated to him that she was not interested in proceeding with the project.
In Kerala, Renjith is a well-known CPM man. During a film festival function last year in Thiruvananthapuram, he declared from the dais that he was an ardent SFI worker during his student days. Obviously, he became the blue-eyed boy of his party.
Following Hema Report, the demands emerged from different quarters of social life in Kerala for Renjith’s resignation. As the pressure mounted, he had no alternative but to resign.
The next Cine VIP to resign is super star Siddiq. His resignation as the general secretary of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA) is in the light of serious sex allegations raised against him by Revati Sampat, a young actress. She told Siddiq is a criminal. Siddiq sent his resignation by mail to Mohanlal, megastar and president of AMMA. Reports suggest that Revati’s allegation invites the POCSO case. After Siddiq’s resignation, AMMA joint secretary Baburaj has taken over the responsibility of the general secretary. Immediately, a junior actress raised sex allegations against him. Sididiq’s predecessor, Edavela Babu faces sex allegations too.
Now, a lot of actresses have started to level sex allegations against several matinée idols.
Now, super star Mukesh, an MLA belonging to CPM, faces ‘MeToo’ allegations from casting director Tess Joseph. Actually, it is her social media post of 2018 that has surfaced now. In the post, she thanked her boss for organising a flight back home for her as soon as she informed him about the wrong behaviour of Mukesh.
Mukesh reacted that it is a practice to level allegations if it is against CPM MLAs. But, people by and large do not take the victim’s allegation lightly. They do not take Mukesh’s justification at face value.
Now more stories keep on unfolding. People are eagerly waiting to see if more skeletons are likely to come out of the cupboard.
On August 19, the Justice Hema Committee report revealed startling information regarding sexual exploitation, human rights violation and drug consumption in the Malayalam film industry.
Hema Commission Report exposes sexual exploitation in Malayalam film industry: Why did Kerala police hesitate to act? https://t.co/BWNRJUoP1p
— Organiser Weekly (@eOrganiser) August 20, 2024
The Committee consisting of Justice Hama (Retd, Kerala High Court), reputed Dakshin Bharat cine artist Sarada and K.B. Valsalakumari IAS (Retd. Principal Secretary, Government of Kerala), was appointed in 2017, due to shocking incident that took place in Kochi. It was a sexual atrocity against a Malayalam super actress, allegedly by a driver in the industry and his accomplices. The incident took place in February 2017 in a running vehicle while coming from Thrissur to Kochi. The assault was allegedly masterminded by a Malayalam superstar.
