Actor Siddique
Credit: PTI Photo
Thiruvananthapuram: The Justice Hema committee report on sexual assaults and discriminations faced by women in the Malayalam film industry has literally opened a pandora box, with over half a dozen women in the film industry already coming out with allegations of sexual assaults against known personalities in cinema.
While national award-winning filmmaker Ranjith and well-known actor Siddique had to quit from the posts they were holding in view of sexual allegations, fresh allegations have come up against many more, including actor turned CPM MLA M Mukesh, known actor Jayasurya, senior actor 'Maniyan Pillai' Raju, filmmaker Thulasidas, actors 'Idavela' Babu and Baburaj.
Most of these allegations pertained to incidents that took place several years back. The row triggered by the Hema committee report is prompting the women to open up.
The CPM government is on the defensive over the allegations against Mukesh. He was even included in a committee recently formed to frame a policy for the Malayalam film industry. Casting director Tess Joseph and actor Minu Muneer raised sexual allegations against Mukesh. Congress and BJP launched demonstrations demanding Mukesh's resignation.
Muneer also raised sexual allegations against Jayasurya, 'Idavela' Babu and 'Maniyanpillai' Raju, while actor Geetha Vijayan alleged that filmmaker Thulasidas tried to sexually assault her in 1991. A junior artist raised the sexual assault allegation against actor Baburaj, who is also the joint secretary of Association of Malayalam Movies Artists (AMMA).
Most of the women who raised these allegations also stated that they were willing to depose before the special investigation team formed by the state government to probe into the allegations.
On Sunday Ranjith quit the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy chairman's post in view of the sexual allegation raised by Bengali actor Sreelekha Mitra. Siddique had to quit the AMMA after actor Revathy Sampath raised sexual allegations. Siddique on Monday filed a police petition accusing Sampath of raising baseless allegations.
The Malayalam film industry has been shaken by the series of sexual assault allegations that have come up in the last few days. The chances of more women coming out against known actors are also not being ruled out by film industry sources. Though a meeting of AMMA leadership was scheduled to be held on Tuesday, it was reportedly postponed.