Actor-politician Mukesh has been removed from the Kerala government’s film policy committee following an allegation of sexual harassment against him. There had been sharp criticism against Mukesh’s inclusion in the committee after the allegation rose and a police complaint was also filed against the actor. Mukesh is a legislator of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) from Kollam.
Filmmaker and producer B Unnikrishnan, who was part of the earlier committee, is also not in the new team. Unnikrishnan, who is also the general secretary of the Film Employees Federation of Kerala (FEFKA), had reportedly resigned from the committee after director Vinayan had raised issues with his inclusion. Vinayan accused Unnikrishnan of being responsible for the loss of work opportunities for many in the industry.
The new committee, however, will retain noted filmmaker Shaji N Karun as chairman, even amid allegations of harassment against him by filmmakers whose projects were funded by the state government. Shaji N Karun, as chairperson of the Kerala State Film Development Corporation, has been in charge of the project to fund selected films of women as well as persons of Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) communities. Complaints of delays in the release of funds and in the release of films among other issues have been raised against him.
Also part of the new film policy committee is actor Prem Kumar, who has been bestowed the charge of heading the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy following the resignation of filmmaker Ranjith from the post. Ranjith had resigned after an allegation of sexual harassment was raised against him by a Bengali actor.
The allegations against both Mukesh and Ranjith came in the aftermath of the release of the Hema Committee report, which had revealed several issues in Malayalam cinema, including systemic sexual harassment and gendered exploitation.
Actor-director Madhupal, actors Padmapriya and Nikhila Vimal, film producer Santhosh Kuruvila, and the Kerala Chalachitra Academy secretary Ajoy C are also part of the reconstituted film policy committee. Forming a film policy had been one of the recommendations made in the Hema Committee report to address workplace issues.
