In the wake of actor Dileep's reinstatement row noted film director Deepesh T has come up with a strong stance against actor and Kollam MLA Mukesh over his presence in the Kerala State Film Award distribution ceremony which is due to be held in August. Deepesh had written a letter to the State Cultural Affairs Minister A K Balan requesting him to remove Mukesh from the State award distribution ceremony.
" I feel it is a very serious issue because the people including me don't want to receive an award in the presence of someone who is still taking an anti-women stance. He is an MLA who is elected by the general public and even after all the uproar if he is still continuing his plum position in AMMA it would mean that he is continuing to maintain the anti-women stance. As a people's representatives of LDF he should not take a separate view on such a serious issue," says Deepesh T.
The current Left government had taken a tough stand called "With Her" during the last Kerala State Film Awards held in Thalassery lending complete solidarity for the woman actor who was abducted and sexually abused.
"So a Government which has a zero-tolerance against the harassment of women should not let a political member be a part of the award ceremony who is still maintaining an anti-women stance. It will leave a bad impression in the mind of the general public," adds Deepesh.
The state government has changed the venue of the award show from Kollam (which is also the constituency of Mukesh) to Thiruvananthapuram . The letter undersigned by Deepesh and also the press release signed by 100 members were reportedly the main reasons behind the change of venue.
Deepesh T was also one of the 100 prominent Malayalam film industry members to sign the press release demanding that the office-bearers of AMMA must step down.
"If the politicians elected by the general public and who are part of AMMA, continue in the organisation despite it taking an anti-women stance, it would mean that they support it. Instead, if they do not endorse AMMA's stand, we hope that they will voluntarily step down and fulfill their social responsibility to the general public and the women who elected them," the statement reads.
State Award winning actor Vinayakan, WCC members Vidhu Vincent, Revathy, Parvathy, Padmapriya, actor and writer P Balachandran, actor Sajitha Madathil, ace directors Aashiq Abu, Rajeev Ravi, Dileesh Pothan, Anwar Rasheed and Amal Neerad, are among 100 signatories.
The past week has seen several prominent members of the Malayalam Film industry and political leaders are strongly condemning the Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes (AMMA) for reinstating actor dileep accused of alleged abduction and molestation of an actress. The uproar is growing only louder with more and more support from various corners of the state.