Actor Rima Kallingal sends legal notice to singer Suchitra, complains to SIT

Actor Rima Kallingal sent a legal notice on Tuesday, September 3, to playback singer and RJ Suchitra over allegations that Rima and her husband, Aashiq Abu, hosted rave parties involving substance abuse. In a recent interview with the YouTube channel SS Buzz, Suchitra also claimed that Rima's career was impacted by these parties. The legal notice has also been sent to the YouTube channel for airing the interview. Rima has also filed a complaint with the Special Investigation team formed by the Kerala government to look into revelations after the Hema Committee report was made public.

In her notice, Rima has said that Suchitra made “reckless, baseless, vague, absurd, false and frivolous allegations” with the ulterior motive of tarnishing her image. She has also accused the YouTube channel of publishing the interview without verifying the veracity of Suchitra’s claims for its viewership.

The actor has demanded Suchitra and SS Buzz pay Rs 25 crores as damages and that the YouTube channel desist from publishing defamatory content against her and recall the existing interview. Further, she has also demanded an unconditional apology in electronic and print media.

In a social media post on September 3, Rima said. “Over the past two days, several news outlets have reported on statements made by Tamil singer Suchitra in an interview with a YouTube channel. In the 30-minute interview, she not only names and shames the survivor of the 2017 sexual assault, claiming the survivor ‘knew it was coming’, but also alleges that CM Pinarayi, Mohanlal, and Mammootty conspired through the Hema Committee to sabotage the careers of actors like Fahadh,” she said.

She also added, “Although these wild theories did not make it into the mainstream news, her baseless statement about me—based on a news article she read about my so-called ‘arrest’ – gained traction. Let me make it clear that such an event never occurred. I have decided to take action. I have filed a complaint with the Special Investigation Team and sent a defamation notice. To all who believe in our cause, let's continue to march ahead together. Thank you for your unwavering support.”

Suchitra, in the interview, claimed that Rima held drug-filled rave parties in her house in Kochi, and that there was an article about Rima and her then boyfriend’s arrested in a drug case. She also went on to ask the anchor to attach a screenshot of the article, however there was no screenshot attached to the video. Rima, in her reply, has said that there was no such arrest. 

Suchitra also said that the Hema Committee report, which detailed issues faced by women in Malayalam cinema, was an “eclipse on the good name” of the Malayalam film industry. 

She said that the Hema Committee report was an attempt by Pinarayi Vijayan and actors Mammootty and Mohanlal “to dislodge the younger crowd like Sushin Shyam, Fahadh Faasil, Soubin Shahir”.

She also went on to name the survivor in the 2017 actor assault case, and said that she knew of the impending attack against her and also claimed that it was an “unsavory revenge prank gone wrong”.

Earlier in May, the Madras High Court issued a gag order on Suchitra from making any comments about her ex-husband, comedian-actor Karthik Kumar, after he sent a legal notice to Suchitra for using ‘homophobic’, ‘casteist’ and ‘foul slurs’ against him.