More Names, More Claims: Kerala’s #MeToo Media Frenzy Continues With Little Hope For Change

The spate of allegations of sexual misconduct emerging against some well-known names in Mollywood in the aftermath of the Hema Committee report, parts of which were made public last week, is, in effect, a direct rebuke to the Kerala government, which chose to redact 55 pages of the 295-page report, withholding the identities of survivors and the accused.

Now, similar to the 2018 #MeToo allegations flood, a plethora of film personalities are being exposed as more women come forward and identify perpetrators. The Communist Kerala government tried to be cunning and pusillanimous, but some survivors have chosen to be bold and outspoken.    

The Hema Committee set up in the aftermath of the horrific sexual assault on a leading actress in the film industry in 2017, submitted its report in 2019. The panel's findings were allowed to gather dust and only a bunch of RTI applications could finally push the government to make the panel's report public.

With the names bowdlerised, the report was largely diluted as it merely said what was already common knowledge to those following the Malayalam film industry. Among the findings that generally grabbed the headlines were that the industry is dominated by 'a mafia of powerful men' and that 'sexual harassment of women is rampant'.

The panel's report was, by and large, welcomed by many, including Siddique, the general secretary of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA), which is the apex body of Malayalam actors and actresses.

As it happens, he is among the early wickets to fall as he has quit the post after a young actress accused him of 'sexual assault and inappropriate behaviour.'

Bengali actress Sreelekha Mitra accused filmmaker Ranjith of misbehaviour during an audition for a 2009 film. Ranjith has also stepped down as chairman of the Kerala Chalachitra Academy.

Communist MLA among the accused

Adding to the brouhaha, a bunch of names including well-known actors Jayasurya, Mukesh, Maniampilla Raju, Idavela Babu, Riyaz Khan, and Shine Chacko Thomas, among others, have also been thrown into the growing charges of sexual debauched behaviour. 

As the typical media frenzy grew, the Kerala government announced that a special investigation team (SIT) would investigate the allegations of sexual misconduct raised by the women working in the Malayalam film industry.

Sigh!

A probe by a special team is usually a hardboiled political tactic to buy time and let the simmering emotions die. It was done through a panel in 2017, now it is SIT.

One cannot avoid cynicism from creeping if the past is anything to go by. Take for example actor Mukesh. Some eight or nine years back, his former wife, actress Saritha, accused him of crude and unacceptable attitude including physical abuse. Mukesh is one of the industry's veterans. 

Any other person in the line of such strong allegations, especially ones hurled by his ex-wife who herself is a widely respected actress, would have found himself disgraced. But not Mukesh. If anything, he was given the CPI-M ticket to contest the assembly elections from the Kollam constituency twice in 2016 and 2021 — he won on both occasions. Worse, he was also fielded in the 2024 Parliamentary election, though he lost.

Siddique's name too surfaced during the first flush of #MeToo allegations. But he found himself unharmed and was allowed to occupy a top position in the Malayalam film industry's top body. 

Riyaz Khan also found himself enmeshed in controversy in 2018 when similar charges emerged. Then there was also Alencier Ley Lopez. Actress Divya Gopinath alleged that Lopez sexually harassed her on the set of his film Aabhaasam, and the director also claimed that Lopez came to the set drunk and messed up many of the shots which affected the shooting.

But nothing has come out of those specific charges, and Alencier Ley Lopez continues to find himself cast in many movies. He was last seen in the well-made Ullozhukku, in which he played the role of a father to the character played by Parvathy Thiruvothu, who is seen to be among the bold voices in the film industry.

The moral quandary of #MeToo

How to prove these charges of morally depraved behaviour convincingly is unfortunately what plagues the #MeToo movement.

Evidently, sexually predatory advances are made under the cover of darkness or aloofness and women are hard-pressed to back up their claims with corroborative material that can stand legal scrutiny.

Eventually, it becomes her claims vs his claims. It is clearly difficult for the girls/women, and hence some of them withdraw into a shell of silence. This silence can embolden the perpetrators. Protest and be damned. Don't protest, and be damned even more. That is unfair Hobson's choice.

Cancel culture is not helpful

Some of them are punished through the informal cancel culture. But it, mostly propped by the self-styled woke brigade, is mostly a cosy club that is as righteous as it makes it out to be.

Take, for instance, Tamil and Malayalam actor John Vijay. Despite several allegations, including one from VJ and playback singer Sriranjani TS, who called him a 'pervert,' the actor remains employed. Pa Ranjith, known for his political correctness, cast him in a pivotal role in his film Sarpatta Parambarai (2021).

Similarly, Ranjith cast Nana Patekar in Kala (2018), despite Patekar being accused of inappropriate behaviour by former Miss India and actress Tanushree Dutta during a 2008 film shoot.

Even Vairamuthu, the man who faced/faces molestation and rape charges from 20 different women, continues to be courted by the high and mighty in Tamil Nadu, including the state Chief Minister, and leading stars like Kamal Haasan and Rajinikanth.

Thus, caught between feckless authorities unbothered about their plight and a specious and dubious cancel culture, actresses — especially young and vulnerable ones — continue to fall prey to predatory and lustful forces that seem to dominate the film industries across states.

The Hema Committee report has led to the opening of a can of worms. Alas, the worms would be put back in another can to fester further.