The Me Too controversy plaguing Malayalam film industry with the disclosures made by a report prepared by the K Hema Committee that probed the professional difficulties of women artists and technicians had its roots in the turf war between various power groups in the Kerala Motion Picture Academy (Kerala Chalachitra Academy), a State Government undertaking.
A war of nerves was brewing up in the Academy between the groups led by Ranjit and Bina Paul, the director of International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK), according to sources in the Academy. Ranjit, who was appointed by the
Pinarayi Vijayan dispensation quit as chairman following an allegation made by Sreelekha Mitra, Bengali film actress that the former had misbehaved with her in 2009.
The grapevine is that Ranjit, a graduate of the School of Drama in Calicut University tried to usher in changes in the film festivals which was not liked by the cartel controlling the Academy. Ranjit was appointed immediately after the resignation of Kamaluddeen, a controversial character who allegedly molested and abused wannabe artists. But till date no action has been taken against Kamaluddeen, known by his screen name Kamal.
Irked by their sidelining from important positions, the group opposed to Ranjit devised a strategy to oust him from the Academy. It all began during the last IFFK held at Thiruvananthapuram when Ranjit, a hardcore SFI and CPI(M) activist despite his roots in a feudal Nair zamindar family, was booed down by a section of the audience. Interestingly most of them were CPI(M) activists.
“A thorough probe into the phone calls made by two persons (including a documentary film maker) to Mitra in the recent past. There were no justification behind the telephonic contacts between these persons and Mitra at this juncture,” said a film professional with Doordarshan Kendra, Thiruvananthapuram. He is of the view that the unprecedented increase in the number of calls between the actress and Chalachitra Academy officials hass no other justification.
He also pointed out that though Ranjit was in the industry since 1985 and had his first directorial venture in 2001, this is the first time an accusation of this kind has been made against him. Though Ranjit is known for his arrogance, this scion of a feudal zamindar Nair family despite working with some of the divas have remained aloof from casting couch controversies till Mitra made her allegations. Mitra’s allegations prompted many junior artists to come out with “Me Too” charges against many senior artists and they all quit their elected positions in AMMA, an industry body.,
The Investigation Team probing the a la Mitra issue has been left clueless over the timing of Mitra’s charges.
