Five months ago, Liju Krishna, making his debut film as a director, was arrested in Kerala after a woman who assisted him with the movie's work alleged rape. Last week, a Mathrubhumi report revealed the plight of the woman, reduced to half her weight and undergoing treatment for her mental and physical wellness at a hospital in Kerala. Coming to know this story, another young actor has now spoken out about her own experience of alleged sexual harrasment, at the hands of another man who worked in the film Padavettu by Liju Krishna.
She has also revealed the story on the Facebook page, Women Against Sexual Harassment, on the morning of August 12, Friday. “It was in July 2019 that I attended the audition at the Aroma Resort in Mattannur in Kannur, after a friend told me that the executive producer of the movie Bipin Paul saw my pictures and asked if I could come. I was told it was for the female lead role and that Nivin Pauly would play the male lead. I was also given the impression that Sunny Wayne, who is the producer of the film, would be there. I reached there by 11 am and met Bipin. I was told that Sunny Wayne had left just some time back to attend a birthday party. Bipin said that Liju Krishna, the director, will take my audition,” the woman from Bengaluru told TNM.
However, Liju left a little later, leaving Bipin and the woman alone at the resort cottage – which had only a single bedroom, she says. “It was only 2 pm when the audition and the lunch got over and my return bus was only at 9.30 pm. Bipin and I sat chatting and I thought he was a genuine guy. He also said that he would drop me at the bus stop. But when it was time to go, he kept delaying it, giving flimsy excuses, saying it was raining and that he could not reach the driver. Finally I missed the bus, but he promised to book a flight for me in the morning. We talked till 11.30 pm and I said I had to go to sleep. I asked if there were no other rooms and he said everything else was booked. So I said I will sleep on the sofa, but he said I should take the room. He also asked me to leave the door open since there was only one restroom which was inside. I still didn’t suspect anything.”
It was 3 am, she says, when she woke up from a deep sleep, feeling suffocated. She was shocked to find Bipin attempting to assault her. “He apologised and kept saying that it won’t happen again. I was thinking of somehow getting out of Kannur because I didn’t know anyone there. So I stayed up for the rest of the night and asked him to drop me at the airport in the morning. But he was again dilly dallying and saying he could book the next flight for me. I had to argue till he agreed to drop me.”
After she returned, he kept contact through casual messages, she says. “I kept the contact even though I had no plans to meet him again, because I know what the industry is like. Sometimes he and Liju would be in Bengaluru and invite me to go to parties, but I would give excuses and avoid going. It is later that I came to know from a writer friend that the female lead role of Padavettu was fixed much earlier. It was then that I realised that even the audition was fake. When I asked Bipin about it, he claimed it was untrue and that they were still searching for a lead.”
Afterwards, Bipin messaged to ask her if she was interested to work as an Assistant Director, says the actor. “That was the limit. I asked him how unprofessional he was to call for an audition for a role that was fixed already and then ask this. I asked him never to message me again and that got over then. I shared this experience with a few friends.”
When she read about Liju Krishna’s arrest, she messaged Bipin that he was next, she says. “He blocked me everywhere then. I didn’t go after it then, because I thought it died down. Now when I heard about the survivor’s (in Liju Krishna case) state, I felt I should speak out.”
TNM also spoke to the woman's friend, who said that she had reached out to him and shared her experience when the rape case against Liju Krishna was reported.
TNM has contacted Bipin Paul, and the story will be updated if he responds to the allegation.