KOCHI: Director Vidhu Vincent’s decision to quit the Women in Cinema Collective (WCC) has unveiled a rift within the organisation, with Vidhu alleging elitism and double standards within the women’s group.
In a Facebook post a day after resigning from the WCC, the state award-winning director said she was sought an explanation as to why her movie, ‘Stand Up’, had Unnikrishnan B, director and Film Employees Federation of Kerala (FEFKA) chairman whose last movie was with actor Dileep, as the producer. Vidhu alleged that WCC did not take the same stance when actor Parvathy Thiruvoth acted along with Siddique, who openly supported Dileep at the time of the actor abduction case or when Anjali Menon cast director-actor Ranjith in her movie ‘Koode’. Ranjith had also extended supported to Dileep.
In her Facebook post, Vidhu also said she had approached actor Parvathy for the role in Stand Up, her second movie. “When I met Parvathy, she said she will respond after reading the script. However, even after months, she did not say either yes or no. She made me feel that I am someone who is not even worth for consideration to say at least a “no”. That was painful. I struggled hard to get a producer. It was after crossing various hurdles, finally, I was able to get Unnikrishnan and Anto Joseph as producers,” she said. She said as per her observation, elitism had been there in WCC since its inception. “It exists between founding members and other members,” she said.
Costume designer flays WCC
Later on Monday, costume designer Stephy Xavior, through a Facebook post, alleged that a WCC member, who is holding a prominent position in the women fraternity, had removed her from working in a movie when she asked for her remuneration. “It was in 2017 that a director, who is holding a top position in the WCC, removed me from working in her film after completing two schedules. The reason is that I had asked for my remuneration. She also reiterated a mass dialogue -- ‘By the time you were born, I had already entered films’,” said Stephy.