MANANTHAVADY: Actor Parvathy Thiruvothu has called for ‘allyship’ among women to bust the myth of women wanting to pull down other women. “Justice will be served if women form allies among themselves,” she said.At an interaction with senior journalist Anna M M Vetticad on the second day of the Wayanad Literature Festival in Mananthavady on Friday, Parvathy said the Women in Cinema Collective (WCC) was formed after the Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes (AMMA) failed to serve the purpose of its formation.
Parvathy said when she started her career, she was told to utilise the first 10 years of her career to the maximum as the shelf life of women actors was very short.
“Then they will be forced to get married and leave the industry. This is happening because of the male-centric notion that women should be fresh. I have been continuing my fight to end this discrimination for the last 18 years,” she said.
Hindu right-wing has always tried to get legitimacy through lies and propaganda, author and journalist Dhirendra K Jha, known for his incisive commentary on Indian politics, said. While discussing the topic ‘Writing the history of the Right’ with senior journalist Pooja Prasanna, Jha said even the leftists too tend to buy the right-wing propaganda.
In a conversation with Neha Dixit, Santwana Bhattacharya, Editor, The New Indian Express, said there weren’t necessarily any hardships she personally faced as a woman in journalism.
Former chief secretary V Venu, Thomas John Muthoot (Chairman of Muthoot Pappachan Group), Ajit Isaac (Chairman, Quess Corp), V M Jayadevan (Income Tax, Kerala) and Ayoob Chekkintakath (CEO, IMEA Technologies) were the other participants in the session on Kerala’s business ecosystem.
Earlier, the Chief Minister of Karnataka, Siddaramaiah, inaugurated the festival. Siddaramaiah read out his inaugural message as he could not attend the event as he was traveling to New Delhi to pay tributes to former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who passed away on Thursday.
In his message, the chief minister spoke about how the festival is a reminder of the unique culture of the states of Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Siddaramaiah spoke of Basavanna, the influential philosopher and poet from the 12th century, and how the festival was a great living reminder of his presence.
Dr Vinod K Jose, the director of the festival, Leena Ragunath, V H Nishad, Joseph K Job, Justin Baby, Shamsad Marakkar and others attended.