Malayalam actor Sreenath Bhasi has been booked by police on charges of abusing the crew of Behindwoods Malayalam, an entertainment content website, during a promotional interview. The alleged incident happened on Thursday September 21 during the shoot of an interview to promote his new movie Chattambi at a hotel in Kochi. The police registered a case after the anchor filed a complaint against the actor at Maradu police station in Ernakulam.
The anchor Veena Mukundan in her complaint said the team had prepared questions related to the name of the film as directed by the PRO of the film to ensure maximum publicity. "This information was known to PRO Athira and Sreenath Bhasi," the complaint said.
The crew, comprising two camera persons, producer and additional members reached the Crown Plaza hotel where the shoot was scheduled at 3.10 pm on September 21, the complaint said. "After the third question was asked, without any provocation or even considering that I was a woman who was interviewing him he shouted that I should not ask such 'fucking questions'. He also charged at me as if to assault me," the complaint said.
A video released by Behindwoods showed the anchor asking Sreenath to rate some Malayalam actors based on their ‘Chattambitharam’ (rowdyness). But the actor, who reacted as if offended by the question, asked the anchor how many years she had been on the job. “I am really getting pissed off now. I don't want to do an interview like this. Don’t ask me to rank actors as Chattambi one, two, three,” Bhasi says using an expletive. As per the complaint by the anchors Bhasi asked them to stop recording and then abused them using derogatory words.
When the video first appeared on social media, many commentators felt Bhasi’s outburst was due to the frivolous nature of the questions asked by anchors.
Bhasi has refuted the allegations and said he responded in a way someone behaves when insulted, as per reports .
“An interview does not mean asking anything that comes out of your mouth. Srinath Bhasi also did the same,” said a comment below a social media post by Behindwoods. “There is a need to maintain a good standard in interviews. Don't test someone's patience and insist that they react the way you want them to,” said another.
Soon an older video of Bhasi showering abuse on a Red FM Radio Jockey surfaced, resulting in widespread condemnation of his behaviour towards interviewers and talk show hosts.
“My thoughts on Sreenath Bhasi controversy: Initially when I saw his outburst on that Behindwoods interview, I thought it had to do with his stressed out behaviour as he's uncomfortable answering questions about fellow actors and "ranking" them, so he dropped an F-bomb and left,” tweeted Imthiaz Muhassin. The interviewer has a history of often stepping over the line so his response felt a bit validated in my eyes initially. It's only then I saw the RJ Vivek interview and boy did I realise what I felt earlier was wrong, said Muhassin tweeting from the handle @ImthiazMuhassin.
Abhilash S Kumar, the director of Chattambi, said the action by Sreenath Bhasi cannot be justified and the film should not be dragged into a controversy created by the lead actor. “People behaving in such a manner towards women cannot be tolerated. I had personally apologised to the anchor and the team. I had also asked Sreenath Bhasi to apologise but was not ready for it,” Abhilash told The Fourth, a digital news outlet.