THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A day after the Hema Committee report was released, actor Shammi Thilakan has accused Minister K B Ganesh Kumar as one of those who had imposed an unofficial ban on his late father, actor Thilakan. Shammi told TNIE that the report mentioned a famous actor being banned by the powerful 15 persons from the industry and it was none other than his father, and the Association of Malayalam Television Media Artists (ATMA) president about whom a reference is made was Ganesh Kumar.
The report said a very famous actor referred to the power group in the film industry as ‘mafia sangham’, as they can do anything they wish. “Though he is one of the best actors in the industry whose ability is undisputed, he could be kept away from the industry, when the 10 to 15 joined hands to ban him from cinema. The above artist had to leave cinema and become a serial artist. But there also, he could not escape from the clutches of the powerful lobby. During that time, the president of ATMA was also a cine actor,” the report said.
Shammi said Ganesh was the ATMA president since it was formed. “What the report said is right. Ganesh worked in favour of the gang of 15, which controls the Malayalam film industry, to ban Thilakan even from serials. In a meeting of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA), one star insulted Thilakan and shouted at him, asking him to get out of the meeting. The same star came to visit my father when he was hospitalised in a critical state. He told me that Thilakan was like a Bappa (father) to him.
They ousted Thilakan from AMMA. After my father’s death in 2018, I raised the issue of defaming Thilakan during an AMMA executive meeting. The then president Mohanlal said the committee could address the issue and justice should be delivered to Thilakan chettan. There was an opinion that AMMA should apologise to Thilakan. I told them to form a committee to look into the matter. However, nothing happened. Later, a senior actor told me that apologising to Thilakan would affect their image,” he said.
Shammi also questioned director Vinayan’s alleged silence on the ‘power group.’ “He claims that he knows the names of those persons. Why is he not revealing it? Vinayan had fought his case by using the ban on Thilakan and won in the Supreme Court,” Shammi said.