A nine-month-old row over the scenes of actual pregnancy and delivery of an award-winning actress in the movie of an award-winning director has resurfaced in Kerala just when the State is discussing allegations of shady links between top political leaders including Ministers and a con woman, an actress and a wife-slayer fraudster in the infamous solar power scam.
The State had seen widespread protest demonstrations over the childbirth scenes filmed on Swetha Menon for director Blessy’s movie, Kalimannu (Clay), in November last. The row has now resurfaced with cine-exhibitors refusing to screen the film before the audience for fear of trouble from moralists and voyeurs alike.
The exhibitors’ refusal to screen the movie has come after the assertion made by director Blessy that the film will be reaching the theatres with five uncut scenes of pregnancy and delivery of Swetha, who is doing the lead role in the film. It was earlier stated that the childbirth scenes had been removed by an all-women Censor Board panel which had certified the movie U/A.
The Film Exhibitors’ Federation has demanded that a preview of the film should be held for the exhibitors and responsible public figures before taking it to the theatres to ascertain the reality of the rumours about the delivery scenes in it. But several other film organisations have opposed the federation’s demand. Kalimannu is scheduled as an Id-ul Fitr release.
“Blessy says that the childbirth scenes have not been removed and that there will be five such scenes. There is no clarity over Blessy’s claim. Either we should be told that there are these scenes or their deletion should be confirmed. We want a preview because the confusion over these things is yet to be removed,” said Federation president liberty Basheer.
According to Basheer, screening the movie before family audiences, especially during the Id season, could cause trouble if these scenes are still there. “And if these scenes are not there, those coming with the intention of watching it would create trouble. Either way, it is the exhibitors who are going to be in trouble,” he said.
However, the Kerala Film Chamber of Commerce, the association of producers, distributors and exhibitors, says that the demand for a special screening of the movie which has already been granted certification by the Censor Board could not be accepted. It has warned the exhibitors’ federation of dire consequences if it refuses to screen Kalimannu.
The row over the film has also divided the audience into two camps. “It was Congress’s Assembly Speaker G Karthikeyan who had sparked off this moralistic row by criticising Swetha. What will he say about the Ministers from his own party and its allies who are running for cover now over charges of immoral links in the solar scamIJ” asked a Blessy fan in Kochi.
In November last, Karthikeyan and others advocating the “woman’s privacy” theory had blasted Swetha for allowing her “most private moments” to be recorded live on camera and director Blessy for shooting the delivery for “commercial purpose”. According to the Speaker, such an act had breached all borders of morality.
Swetha had delivered a baby girl before three movie cameras at the maternity ward of a Mumbai suburb hospital on September 27 last year. The controversies started after she appeared on stage in Thiruvananthapuram on November 6 to receive the State award for best actress with her new-born baby.
Swetha responded to her critics by saying, “I am also a woman and I also have the right to decide what I should do.” Those behind the film say that Kalimannu is all about the intimacy between mother and child, right from pregnancy. Swetha had delivered the baby at the Mumbai hospital in the presence of her husband Srivalsan Menon, Blessy and three camera crew members.