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Why is Mammootty silent as his fans abuse Parvathy?
You don’t have to be a feminist to see the problem with this scene. Disgusting just about sums it up. Mammootty fans, however, think otherwise. Parvathy faced death threats, rape threats and trolling over her comments.
Trolled, threatened and abused but not cowed down, that is actor Parvathy for you. The award-winning actor called out Malayalam cinema’s superstar Mammootty and the misogyny in his film Kasaba at the Kerala International Film Festival earlier this month, and the abuse – both online and off it – has not stopped since then.
However, instead of staying quiet, Parvathy approached the police and filed a complaint. A man named Printo of Thrissur has been arrested. He was charged with Section 67 (Punishment for publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form) of the IT Act, reports The Hindu.
It would have been easier to have apologised for the ‘misunderstood’ statement, but she stood up for what matters. As an actor who has a huge fan following, and a woman who is an idol for many - she has shown how to stand up for what is right.
But what about the other superstar who is a part of this incident? Mammootty is yet to comment and his silence has only encouraged his fan brigade. In this day and age when stars are given to exploiting social media to the hilt while promoting themselves or their films, turning mute when something so inappropriate is engineered in their name is unacceptable to say the least.
Parvathy, probably, was aware of the backlash when she spoke out against Kasaba, which has been criticised for its tone deaf approach when it comes to women. “I don’t want to say name of the film”, she had said at the film festival, “I, unfortunately, watched Kasaba. With all due respects to the technicians who worked in the film. I was definitely disappointed to watch an actor (Mammootty) par excellence, happen to say dialogues to a woman in a scene which was not only derogatory but most saddening.”
The scene she is referring to has Mammootty, who plays a policeman in the film, telling his senior officer – a woman -- that he would f*** her so hard that she would find it hard to walk for a week. He adds that he can hurt her so badly in the process that she would miss her menstrual cycle.
You don’t have to be a feminist to see the problem with this scene. Disgusting just about sums it up. Mammootty fans, however, think otherwise. Parvathy faced death threats, rape threats and trolling over her comments. She was not the one to take it quietly. She wrote on Twitter, “Vanamala vannallo!!! #trolls. Welcome welcome- please kindly take my words out of context, remind me that I’m “just a actress” and curse at me. Here’s to your sensitive chauvinistic blind hearts! Yours- that annoying feminist.”
It was not just the fans. The makers of the film and many from the film industry have also objected to Parvathy’s stance including director Jude Anthany Joseph, actor Siddique, writer and director Vyasan KP and director Nithin Renji Panicker.
In all of this, Mammootty has stayed quiet. In an industry where a female actor was abducted allegedly at the behest of a star, Dileep, this inherent misogyny is not just wrong but frightening. In this post-truth world where movements such as #MeToo are gaining currency after the Harvey Weinstein disclosure, celebs have a tremendous responsibility. Given that a woman is being attacked by rabid fans, Mammootty needs to break his silence and raise his voice against sexism, misogyny and objectification. And also, not do a film where the “hero” is issuing rape threats to a woman.
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The author tweets @Priyanka_S_MCC
