Actor-director Joju George threatened a film reviewer for criticising his debut directorial Pani, which also has him playing the lead role. Adarsh HS, a Malayalam vlogger, had criticised the depiction of a rape scene in the film in a write-up published in a film discussions group on Facebook. Infuriated by this, Joju phoned Adarsh and threatened him with violence, implying dire consequences.
In his detailed review of the film, Adarsh wrote, “When depicting [rape] in a film, utmost sensitivity is crucial. However, in Joju George's Pani, a rape scene is handled in an immature and objectifying manner.”
Adarsh, who is a research scholar at the Department of Political Science in the University of Kerala, explained why the portrayal of sexual violence in Pani is problematic in his post. “How should rape be portrayed? It should evoke a sense of the severity of the crime in the viewer, and their empathy should lie with the victim. But Pani resembles old B-grade films,” he said. He also criticised the film’s making and plot in his post.
Taking offence at this, Joju threatened Adarsh, challenging him to face him in person if he “had the guts”. In the conversation which has been made public by Adarsh, the actor-director issues a threat veiled as sarcasm, “Your words are so meaningful, I will come to you to learn, do teach me, where will you be tomorrow?” Upon being told by Adarsh that he is open to meeting Joju any day, the actor-director issues yet another threat, “You should remember me every day.”
When Adarsh says that it is not the way to handle criticism, he continues to respond with sarcasm. In the conversation, Adarsh pokes fun at the actor-director for how his “sarcasm and mass dialogues” seem to fall flat in both the movie and in the phone call. He tells Joju that he has lost any respect he had for the actor-director, more due to the phone call than due to the “badly made film”.
When asked why he was being provoked by an honest review, Joju tells Adarsh that he would “piss his pants” if he had been actually provoked. Pat came the reviewer’s reply, “I do not need to provoke you to be able to urinate, I do that every day even without it.”
Adarsh said he made the conversation public to deter the actor-director from making similar threats to others in the future. “I had posted a review about a rape scene in the movie directed by Joju George,” said Adarsh in his post. “He threatened me over the phone and asked me if I had the guts to face him directly. Joju might have seen people cower in front of him, but I am not like that.”
“This film represents two years of my hard work, and spreading spoilers about it is not right,” Joju stated. “If someone doesn’t like my movie, they should simply say so. The reviewer is copying and pasting his post across multiple groups, telling people not to watch the film. This is unfair.”
He added, “Deliberately degrading a movie is not the right thing to do. Let people watch the movie and review it themselves. Stop spreading hate.” He further claimed that his phone call was not a suppression of free speech but a reaction to what he perceived as spreading spoilers. He also said that he would take legal action against the vlogger.