Malayalam Director

The Kerala High Court on Wednesday granted anticipatory bail to veteran actor-cum-director Balachandra Menon in a case accusing him of outraging the modesty of a female actor in 2007 during a film shoot, saying that men too have "pride and dignity" and not just women. The order and observation by Justice P V Kunhikrishnan came while allowing the anticipatory bail plea moved by the actor against whom the case was lodged in September this year after the release of the Justice Hema Committee report. In his plea, Menon had contended that the complaint was made after a gap of 17 years from the date of the alleged incident in 2007 and the intention was to malign his image. The court said there was "force" in his arguments as it was an admitted fact that the alleged incident happened in 2007. "It is an admitted fact that the victim filed the complaint after 17 years of the alleged incident. It is an admitted fact that the petitioner (Menon) is a known cine artist. He directed about 40 fil

The Kerala High Court on Monday directed the SIT investigating the sexual abuse allegations in the Malayalam film industry to probe the widespread use of alcohol and drugs on film shooting sets and other related work places. A special division bench of Justices A K Jayasankaran Nambiar and C S Sudha, hearing the PIL regarding the Justice Hema Committee report and related matters, directed that necessary steps should be taken, as and when required in the future, to prevent the rampant use of alcohol and drugs at shooting locations and other connected work sites, and said this was in violation of law. The bench directed the Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate the matter and take necessary action as per law. The Justice Hema panel was constituted by the Kerala government after the 2017 actress assault case and its report revealing instances of harassment and exploitation of women in the Malayalam cinema industry. Following allegations of sexual harassment and exploitation

The Supreme Court on Monday granted interim protection from arrest to Malayalam film actor Siddique in a rape case. A bench of Justices Bela M Trivedi and Satish Chandra Sharma issued notice to the Kerala government and the victim in the case during the hearing of a plea by Siddique challenging a Kerala High Court order which denied him anticipatory bail. At the outset, the top court asked senior advocate Vrinda Grover, appearing for the victim, about the reason for the delay in registering the complaint against the actor. The lawyer told the bench that the Justice Hema Committee report, which exposed the shocking harassment and sexual exploitation faced by women in the Malayalam film industry, has to be understood in the larger context. Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Siddique, submitted that a complaint was lodged in 2024 after a lapse of eight years. On September 24, the high court had rejected the anticipatory bail plea of Siddique in the rape case, saying that in

B Unnikrishnan, general secretary of the Film Employees Federation of Kerala (FEFKA), on Sunday said there were "strong alliances" in the cinema industry, but he was not aware of any "power group" as mentioned in the Justice K Hema Committee report. Unnikrishnan, speaking to a TV channel, said that it was an "undeniable fact" that there were "strong alliances" of some production houses with certain directors, writers and actors to make big films. "They often work together on several projects back-to-back and naturally, everyone would try to align themselves with them to get opportunities. However, such alliances are based on commercial interests," he said. He also said that such alliances were not confined to Malayalam cinema alone and were present in film industries everywhere. At the same time, he said that there cannot be a secret lobby of different cinema-related organisations which meet periodically to decide who should be isolated from films. "The industry will not be able t

A female actor in Malayalam cinema levelled sexual abuse allegations against four prominent male actors, including M Mukesh, on Monday, causing further upheaval in the film industry already reeling from the Justice K Hema Committee's explosive findings of harassment and abuse of women professionals. Hours after the actress levelled the allegations against Mukesh, a CPI(M) MLA, in interviews with news channels, workers from Yuva Morcha and Mahila Congress organised separate marches towards his residence in Kollam, demanding that a case be registered against him and that he resign as a legislator. The Kollam MLA has not responded to the allegations. The female actor also levelled sexual abuse allegations against three other prominent actors in the Malayalam film industry. Meanwhile, actor Maniyanpilla Raju has called for an investigation into the allegations surfacing in the Malayalam film industry. He told reporters that many more revelations will come out, and there will be multipl

Kerala govt forms special team to probe atrocities faced by women in film industry

The Hema committee, appointed by the Kerala government, highlighted issues faced by women in the Malayalam film industry, including unwanted physical advances even before commencing work

Malayalam film "Aattam: The Play" won the award for best feature film and Sooraj R Barjatya was judged best director for the Hindi movie "Uunchai" in the National Film Awards announced on Friday. The best actress award was shared by Nithya Menon, who got it for the Tamil film 'Thiruchitrambalam', and Manasi Parekh for the Gujarati movie "Kutch Express". The award for best actor went to Rishabh Shetty for the Kannada hit "Kantara". Neena Gupta was best supporting actress for 'Uunchai' and Pawan Malhotra best supporting actor for the Haryanvi film "Fouja". Sharmila Tagore and Manoj Bajpayee starrer "Gulmohar" won the award for Hindi film. Bajpayee also got a special mention. A R Rahman won the National Film Award for best music director (background music) for his work in Mani Ratnam's "Ponnyin Selvan-Part 1", which was also named the best Tamil film. Pritam got the award for best music director (songs) for "Brahmastra-Part 1". The awards were announced by feature film jury head Rahu

Its share of the Indian box office has already risen to three times the average for the last many years

The Film Employees Federation of Kerala (FEFKA) on Saturday said that no Malayalam film will be given to any PVR owned screen or theatre till it compensates producers from the southern state for the loss suffered by them due to the multiplex company not showing films made by them across India. FEFKA general secretary Unnikrishnan B announced the decision at a press conference held here where noted producers like Blessy Ipe Thomas and Vineeth Sreenivasan were also present. Unnikrishnan said that there was an ongoing dispute between PVR and the film producer's association on the issue of virtual print fee (VPF) charged by the multiplex company. The producers' association decided not to give any films to PVR's new screen at Forum Mall till the dispute was resolved, he said. "As a countermeasure, PVR, with a cartel-like strategy, decided not to show any Malayalam film on any of the theatres or screens owned by them across India. This has caused a significant financial loss as well as .

Mammootty's movie gained highly positive reviews from both audiences and critics. Bramayugam has done phenomenal business worldwide collecting over Rs 30 crore

Malayalam film "2018: Everyone is a Hero", India's official entry in the international feature film category at the 2024 Academy Awards, is out of the Oscars race. The Jude Anthany Joseph-directed film failed to make it to the shortlist of 15 films for the category, which was announced by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) on Friday. Jonathan Glazer's historical drama "The Zone of Interest" (UK), Denmark's "The Promised Land", starring Mads Mikkelsen, and "Perfect Days" from Japan are being billed as the frontrunners of the category. The shortlist also includes Amerikatsi (Armenia), The Monk and the Gun (Bhutan), Fallen Leaves (Finland), The Taste of Things (France), The Teachers' Lounge (Germany), Godland (Iceland), Io Capitano (Italy), Totem (Mexico), The Mother of All Lies (Morocco), Society of the Snow (Spain), Four Daughters (Tunisia) and 20 Days in Mariupol (Ukraine). Films from 88 countries were eligible in the category. The shortlisted movies will advan

Veteran award-winning Malayalam movie producer and industrialist K Ravindranathan Nair, who produced several classic and art house movies, died following age-related ailments, family sources said. He was 90. Popularly known as Achani Ravi in movie circles, Nair was the producer of iconic films directed by legendary filmmakers including Adoor Gopalakrishnan, G Aravindan, P Bhaskaran, A Vincent and so on. An advocate of the New Wave movement in Malayalam films, he was also a recipient of the national and state awards multiple times. After taking over the family cashew business following the death of his father, Ravi, a hardcore movie fan, established a production banner under the name "General Pictures" in 1967, which played a significant role in the Malayalam cinema in the later decades. Sathyan-starrer "Anweshichu Kandethiyilla" was the first film came out under his illustrious movie banner. During 1970s and 80s, Ravi laid a mark in the industry by producing a series of critical

Malayalam director P Ramdas passes away