Kerala’s CPI(M)-led ruling lDF and its Independent lok Sabha member Innocent, a top Malayalam movie actor and chief of the Kerala cine-actors’ outfit, have come under fire from the women working in the film industry, cultural leaders and the Opposition parties over the anti-women remarks he made the other day with respect to the case pertaining to the abduction of and attack against a frontline actress in February.
The actor’s remarks have also triggered a gender war in the Malayalam movie field with the Women in Cinema Collective (WCC), a newly constituted organisation of the women working in the Malayalam industry criticising him and questioning the male domination in the sector in the context of the attack on the actress and the actors’ outfit’s refusal to give her the due support.
Innocent, 72, has come under attack from various quarters also for his several humiliating statements as president of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA) that allegedly humiliated the victim of the attack and in support of superstar Dileep, who is facing the allegation of having involvement in the conspiracy behind the attack.
leading actress and one of the leaders of the WCC, Rima Kallingal, lashed out at Innocent and AMMA through a Facebook post by questioning the absurdity of a situation “When you (Innocent) are inherently part of a system that holds women accountable for having to sleep around for job opportunity, rather than the men who ask for the favour.” She also alleged — though indirectly — that Innocent had been blinded by his “privilege and entitlement”.
On Thursday, the Youth Congress and Yuva Morcha took out protest marches to Innocent’s house and offices at Irinjalakkuda in Thrissur district and in Angamaly in Ernakulam district demanding his resignation as AMMA’s president and MP from Chalakudy. The Youth Congress march at Irinjalakkuda witnessed some tension between the activists and the police.
While responding to a newsmen’s queries on a statement from a leading actress about the compromises several actresses were being forced to make with male colleagues for getting opportunities in films, Innocent had said the other day that no such exploitation was taking place in Malayalam film industry but “bad women might be doing that”.
“The time has gone when (men) used to behave badly with women in the Malayalam film industry. Everything is clean now. I haven’t come across any actress’s statement that women have to share bed for getting opportunities. If there are bad women (he did not clarify what he meant with the term) they might be doing that,” he told newsmen on Wednesday.
The AMMA president is also being accused of refusing to take action against or even reprimand actors like Saleem Kumar who had made humiliating remarks against the actress who was abducted and assaulted in a car in February and also of supporting Dileep even after he was questioned by the police in connection with the conspiracy behind the attack.
The frontline actress was abducted, assaulted and physically and psychologically tormented by a gang in a car in which she was travelling from Thrissur to Kochi on the night of February 17. The Kerala Police have already questioned several leading film personalities including Dileep and his friend and actor Nadir Shah in connection with the conspiracy behind the incident.
Attacks against Innocent have come from within the left front itself. CPI leader and National Federation of Indian Women general secretary Annie Raja on Wednesday asked the State Women’s Commission to initiate a case against Innocent for his anti-women statements. “He is not even bothered about how deeply such statements could hurt women,” she said.