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Filmmaker Vinayan, actor Thilakan | Photo Credit: File
No names were named in the publicly available version of the Hema Committee report, but the edited revelations were enough to revive memories of forgotten stories of discrimination and restrictions in the Malayalam film industry, as well as bring to light other secrets.
Without naming them, the report specifically mentions the troubles faced by actor Thilakan and filmmaker Vinayan in the past, as well as the dissolution of the Malayalam Cine Technicians Association (MACTA) due to the interference of a star. Soon after the contents of the report came out, old videos of Thilakan went viral on social media, in which he accused the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA) of banning him from cinema.
Attacks on power centers
Mr Vinayan and Sonia Thilakan, the late actor’s daughter, came out in public on Tuesday and hit out at the power centres in the industry. Ms Thilakan said the report vindicated her father’s stance, also alleging that a leading actor had approached her on the pretext of apologising for what happened to her father.
She told media persons, “He wanted me to go to his room and talk to him personally. When I questioned the need for it, he sent me messages which revealed his intentions. If someone who is not a part of the industry has to go through all this, one can imagine what actresses and junior artistes have to go through. AMMA, which was quick to expel my father, has not been able to respond properly even after the Hema Committee report came out. If the committee wants to do so, I will also reveal the names of the 15-member power group.”
The report cites a case of an actor who had taken Rs 40 lakh from a producer for a film but did not work in the film even after three years. Later, the actor told the producer that he would work only if the director was changed. MACTA took action against the actor, who used his influence and the support of several leading actors to force several writers, cameramen, technicians and directors to resign from the organisation. Subsequently, he formed a parallel union Film Employees Federation of Kerala (FEFKA) with the support of powerful groups in the industry. FEFKA used its influence to pressure various actors, technicians and producers not to work with the said director, who later filed a case with the Competition Commission of India and obtained a favourable judgment, imposing a penalty on AMMA and FEFKA.
Mr Vinayan, the director named in the report, said that when he was the secretary general in 2008, industry barons had met at a hotel in Kochi to plot the dissolution of MACTA.
‘Became a victim’
Referring to FEFKA, he said, “Within two years of forming an organisation that gave junior artistes the courage to speak up to any bigwig in the industry, it was destroyed and replaced by an organisation that ran on the lines of power centres and was sponsored by them.” “That was the point from where all these undesirable tendencies and ‘hooliganism’ erupted in cinema. I became a victim of the cruel games of this power group and was banned for 12 years, just because I raised my voice against them,” said Mr. Vinayan, who also accused a sitting minister of being part of the 15-member power group.
Both Ms. Thilakan and Mr. Vinayan demanded the State government to take concrete action based on the findings of the report.
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