India’s ‘Mollywood’ cinema rocked by MeToo abuse claims

A man rides past posters of regional movies from India's Kerala-based Mollywood film industry, displayed along a street amid protests against alleged sexual allegations within the industry, in Kochi on August 30, 2024. (AFP)
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Updated 03 September 2024
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India’s ‘Mollywood’ cinema rocked by MeToo abuse claims

  • Explosive government report has documented widespread sexual harassment in an industry dominated by powerful and wealthy men
  • Case of Sreelekha Mitra and close to a dozen others have triggered a MeToo reckoning in the industry, with 10 prominent figures accused

NEW DELHI: Terrified for her safety, Indian actress Sreelekha Mitra remembers pushing chairs and a sofa against her hotel door after she said an award-winning veteran director sexually harassed her.
Mitra waited 15 years to speak out about the incident, one of several cases exposing the dark underbelly of India’s Malayalam-language “Mollywood” film industry that has won awards at Cannes.
Her revelation was spurred by an explosive government report documenting widespread sexual harassment in an industry dominated by powerful and wealthy men who believe that an actress willing to kiss on screen would do the same in real life.
“That entire night I stayed awake,” Mitra, 51, told AFP.
Mitra was invited to a gathering at the director’s house, where she said he lured her into his room for a phone call with a cinematographer.
“He started playing with my hair and neck... I knew if I did not say anything then, his hand would roam around other parts of my body,” she said, describing events from 2009, when she was 36.
She left and returned to her hotel.
“The intentions behind his moves were pretty clear to me... I was petrified.”
Her case and close to a dozen others have triggered a MeToo reckoning in the industry, with at least 10 prominent figures accused, according to Indian media.
Kerala-based Mollywood is known for critically acclaimed movies with strong and progressive themes, a change from the big dance and song numbers of India’s giant Hindi-language Bollywood in Mumbai.
The industry is prolific, producing up to 200 films a year, loved not only by southern India’s 37 million Malayalam speakers, but also dubbed and streamed across the rest of India and abroad.
Internationally, its films have won awards, including the 1999 satire Marana Simhasanam (“Throne of Death“), winner of the Camera d’Or at Cannes.
This year’s “Manjummel Boys,” a survival thriller, took $29 million at the box office, the highest-grossing Malayalam movie ever and the fifth-most successful in India this year.
The industry report, released August 19, said women actors faced the widespread “worst evil” of sexual harassment.
The report was released by the Hema Committee, headed by a former high court judge, set up after a leading Malayalam actress reported she was sexually assaulted in 2017.
Gopalakrishnan Padmanabhan, a prominent Malayalam actor better known by his stage name Dileep, was arrested for allegedly orchestrating the assault.
He was imprisoned for three months before being released on bail. The case continues.
But the release of the report has opened discussion on the far wider issue of chronic violence against women, encouraging people like Mitra to speak out in public for the first time.
It said that women who considered speaking out about sexual assault were silenced by threats to their life, and to their families.
Award-winning actress Parvathy Thiruvothu, 36, called the investigation a “game changer” and a “historic moment.”
“There was this idea that women working in the industry should feel grateful for having been given an opportunity by the men who were hiring them,” said Thiruvothu, a member of the campaign group Women in Cinema Collective.
Allegations of abuse in Indian cinema are not new.
It witnessed a wave in 2018, shortly after the 2017 MeToo movement erupted in Hollywood against disgraced US movie producer Harvey Weinstein.
But Thiruvothu called the latest allegations more than “MeToo Part Two.”
“It’s shaking everything,” she told AFP. “It isn’t an individual-to-individual complaint anymore. It’s about a systemic structure that has continued to fail women.”
Since the report, several top actors have been accused.
The Association of Malayalam Movie Artists was dissolved following the resignation of its chief on “moral grounds” with some members among the accused.
Ranjith Balakrishnan, 59, chairman of the state’s film academy, has also quit.
Balakrishnan, who denies any wrongdoing, was the man Mitra accused of sexual harassment.
Police have filed a case against him for outraging a woman’s modesty, a non-bailable offense.
Mitra, who until the release of the report had only mentioned the incident to an industry colleague, told AFP that Balakrishnan had misused “his power.”
Thiruvothu offered a message to all women in the film industry who have survived sexual assault.
“You are a skilled artist... do not listen to anyone who tells you to find another job if it is so difficult for you,” she said.
“This is your industry, as much as it is anybody else’s. Speak up, so that we are taking the space that is rightfully ours.”
 


‘Bahr’ play brings maritime heritage to Baha in Theater Tour initiative

Updated 06 April 2025
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‘Bahr’ play brings maritime heritage to Baha in Theater Tour initiative

  • Organized by the Theater and Performing Arts Commission, the event attracted a large audience for the award-winning play “Bahr” (Sea)

RIYADH: The three-day Theater Tour initiative ended on Saturday at the Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz Theater in Baha, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

Organized by the Theater and Performing Arts Commission, the event attracted a large audience for the award-winning play “Bahr” (Sea).

Inspired by maritime heritage, “Bahr” explores the traditions of sailors’ lives, particularly diving and pearl hunting.

The production is part of the commission’s strategy to promote culture across the Kingdom, according to the SPA.

Nasser Al-Qasabi, chairman of the commission, thanked the governor of Baha for supporting the initiative and providing the resources for its launch in the region.

The Theater Tour initiative brings exceptional performances to cities, governorates and villages throughout the Kingdom. The first phase features “Bahr,” running from April 3 to May 3.

The production debuted in Baha from April 3-5. It now moves to Jubail from April 17-19, Dammam from April 24-26 and concludes in Al-Ahsa from May 1-3.

The project aims to raise awareness of theater, increase access to cultural services in underserved areas and support local theater groups.

Written by Abdulrahman Al-Marikhi and directed by Sultan Al-Nawa, “Bahr” has won several awards, including best actor, best script and best overall production at the Riyadh Theater Festival, as well as best musical effects and best director at the 19th Gulf Theater Festival.


Spider-Man actor Andrew Garfield to attend MEFCC Abu Dhabi

Updated 05 April 2025
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Spider-Man actor Andrew Garfield to attend MEFCC Abu Dhabi

DUBAI: British American actor Andrew Garfield, known for playing Spider-Man, will appear at this year’s Middle East Film & Comic Con.

The three-day event will take place from April 18-20 at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Center.

The actor will join a list of celebrities that includes Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio from Marvel’s “Daredevil: Born Again,” “Star Wars” actor Ian McDiarmid, famous for portraying Emperor Palpatine in the space saga; and “Stranger Things” star Natalia Dyer.

Also joining the line-up are Grant Gustin, otherwise known as Barry Allen / The Flash, and Emily Rudd, the navigator of Netflix’s record-smashing, live-action show “One Piece.”

The stars are expected to take part in a panel discussion and will be available for autograph sessions.

Japanese voice actors Kotono Mitsuishi, Daiki Yamashita, Hideo Ishikawa and Kentaro Ito, and US voice actress Colleen O'Shaughnessey, will also attend.


Inside season two of ‘The Last of Us’: Newcomer Kaitlyn Dever on the return of the hugely successful video-game adaptation 

Updated 04 April 2025
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Inside season two of ‘The Last of Us’: Newcomer Kaitlyn Dever on the return of the hugely successful video-game adaptation 

  • The HBO series will return for a second season on Apr. 14, streaming in the Middle East on OSN+

DUBAI: For Kaitlyn Dever, stepping into the role of Abby in season two of HBO’s acclaimed adaptation of the post-apocalyptic video-game franchise “The Last of Us” – returning for a second season to the Middle East on streaming platform OSN+ on Apr. 14 – was both a dream and a test. 

“Stepping into a role like this… I knew it was going to be challenging, but I was so up for that challenge,” the 28-year-old US actress tells Arab News. “She’s a woman who has gone through so much, and I consider her to be very, very strong and brave. She is someone who has suffered and gone through grief. I wanted to make sure that I got that right.” 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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Abby is one of the most polarizing characters in the game’s universe — a complex and controversial figure who sparks a major emotional and physical shift in the story. Laura Bailey, who voiced Abby in the game, even received death threats. But Dever says she didn’t think twice about taking the role. 

“I hope that people are able to separate the person from the game or the show. We’re not these characters — we’re playing them,” she says. “The backlash was never going to stop me from playing Abby. It was such a great opportunity for me as an actor. I really do want to make the fans proud with my portrayal of Abby, but what is most important to me is tackling her emotional journey so that her arc really shines.” 

Dever says she also enjoyed the physical demands of the role — in the game Abby is a respected and feared fighter. “There was a lot of running, a lot of new stunts, a lot of wire work. That was a challenge because it was so new to me, but also very cool,” Dever says. 

In fact, joining “The Last of Us” has been a deeply rewarding experience all round for Dever. 

“It’s a really big deal to be a part of this show,” she says. “This franchise is so loved by so many people. I feel very fortunate to be a part of this group. The people that I get to work with and bond with are really something special. They’re truly such incredible artists all around and wonderful human beings.”

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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Dever’s connection to the world of “The Last of Us” runs deep. She played both the first and second games and was immediately hooked. “I was kind of obsessed with the narrative,” she says of the first game. “I had never played a game that had such good storytelling… It was so beautiful to look at.” 

Playing the sequel with her dad made the experience even more personal. “That was what we really bonded over — just how beautiful it looked.” 

But when Abby’s character took center stage in the second game, it was a moment Dever never forgot. “It’s a very drastic shift — really jarring,” she says. “Almost like Abby and Ellie (Bella Ramsey’s character and the games’ main protagonist) are mirrors of each other.” 

She was also in the running to be cast in a mooted movie adaptation of “The Last of Us” almost a decade ago, she reveals. And while that version never materialized, she remained a fan, watching the TV version as soon as it premiered.  

Neil Druckmann — studio head of the game’s developer Naughty Dog, who co-runs the show with Craig Mazin — is as effusive about Dever as she is about the rest of the cast and crew.  

“Abby is a very complex character, as you’ll see throughout the season, and hopefully going forward. We felt fairly confident (Dever) could execute Abby extremely well, but it’s still like you’re taking some of it on faith. But the moment she stepped into the scene you didn’t see Kaitlyn anymore; you just saw Abby. It didn’t feel like a new actor or some junior actor coming in, it felt like a veteran acting with their peers,” he says. 

“I feel like I have very big shoes to fill. I put a lot of pressure on myself to get this role right and to do the story justice,” says Dever. “But the nerves went away, especially when I got on set and I got to play the scenes out with the cast. It was a very cool thing to be a part of.” 


REVIEW: Seth Rogen sends up Hollywood in ‘The Studio’ 

Updated 03 April 2025
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REVIEW: Seth Rogen sends up Hollywood in ‘The Studio’ 

  • Apple’s star-studded new comedy takes aim at the movie business 

LONDON: At a time when the movie industry is constantly being forced to pivot and evolve to counter the influence of streaming networks, it’s something of a surprise to see a show come out about the inner workings of the Hollywood machine — and even more of a shock that said show is being made by one of the aforementioned streamers. 

But then, perhaps that’s why “The Studio” works so well. Apple TV’s new satirical comedy stars Seth Rogen as Matt Remick, the newly appointed head of a major Hollywood studio who wants, above all else, to return the production house to its halcyon days of making amazing movies. Trouble is, he’s also got a boss who cares only about making money, a former boss who blames him for taking her job, a roster of actors and directors all wanting to manipulate him, and a team around him who each seem to embody the very worst Tinseltown stereotypes. 

So even though “The Studio” is a TV show about the movie business, it still manages to skewer both industries. At every turn, Matt is confronted by the inherent silliness of the movie business, and we get to watch it in a series of episodic, bingeable installments, each bursting with cameos and a satirical swipe at everything from celebrity culture to pretentious auteur filmmakers. 

Rogen’s affable exec has to do the majority of the show’s heavy lifting, but the actor is more than up to it — his trademark calamitous buffoonery has perhaps never been better suited to a role. Among the extensive supporting cast, Bryan Cranston and Kathryn Hahn stand out, but everything is pretty much pitch perfect, from the whipsmart cameos to some carefully choreographed, good ol’ fashioned slapstick humor.  

There are enough industry deep-dive references to appease ardent movie buffs and enough zip about the episodes (two of which are available at launch) to keep casual viewers entertained. That, coupled with the depth of Apple’s production pockets in pulling in those cameos — Martin Scorsese, Charlize Theron, Steve Buscemi, Paul Dano and Peter Berg for the first episode alone — means “The Studio” has something for everyone. Here’s hoping for a sequel or three. 


Val Kilmer, ‘Top Gun’ and Batman star with an intense approach, dies at 65

Updated 02 April 2025
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Val Kilmer, ‘Top Gun’ and Batman star with an intense approach, dies at 65

  • Val Kilmer: ‘I have behaved poorly. I have behaved bravely. I have behaved bizarrely to some. I deny none of this and have no regrets’
  • Director John Frankenheimer said there were two things he would never do: ‘Climb Mount Everest and work with Val Kilmer again’

LOS ANGELES: Val Kilmer, the brooding, versatile actor who played fan favorite Iceman in “Top Gun,” donned a voluminous cape as Batman in “Batman Forever” and portrayed Jim Morrison in “The Doors,” has died. He was 65.
Kilmer died Tuesday night in Los Angeles, surrounded by family and friends, his daughter, Mercedes Kilmer, said in an email to The Associated Press. The New York Times was the first to report his death on Tuesday.
Val Kilmer died from pneumonia. He had recovered after a 2014 throat cancer diagnosis that required two tracheotomies.
“I have behaved poorly. I have behaved bravely. I have behaved bizarrely to some. I deny none of this and have no regrets because I have lost and found parts of myself that I never knew existed,” he says toward the end of “Val,” the 2021 documentary on his career. “And I am blessed.”
Kilmer, the youngest actor ever accepted to the prestigious Juilliard School at the time he attended, experienced the ups and downs of fame more dramatically than most. His break came in 1984’s spy spoof “Top Secret!” followed by the comedy “Real Genius” in 1985. Kilmer would later show his comedy chops again in films including “MacGruber” and “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.”
His movie career hit its zenith in the early 1990s as he made a name for himself as a dashing leading man, starring alongside Kurt Russell and Bill Paxton in 1993’s “Tombstone,” as Elvis’ ghost in “True Romance” and as a bank-robbing demolition expert in Michael Mann’s 1995 film “Heat” with Al Pacino and Robert De Niro.
“While working with Val on ‘Heat’ I always marvelled at the range, the brilliant variability within the powerful current of Val’s possessing and expressing character,” director Michael Mann said in a statement Tuesday night.
Actor Josh Brolin, a friend of Kilmer, was among others paying tribute.
“You were a smart, challenging, brave, uber-creative firecracker,” Brolin wrote on Instagram. “There’s not a lot left of those.”
Kilmer — who took part in the Method branch of Suzuki arts training — threw himself into parts. When he played Doc Holliday in “Tombstone,” he filled his bed with ice for the final scene to mimic the feeling of dying from tuberculosis. To play Morrison, he wore leather pants all the time, asked castmates and crew to only refer to him as Jim Morrison and blasted The Doors for a year.
That intensity also gave Kilmer a reputation that he was difficult to work with, something he grudgingly agreed with later in life, but always defending himself by emphasizing art over commerce.
“In an unflinching attempt to empower directors, actors and other collaborators to honor the truth and essence of each project, an attempt to breathe Suzukian life into a myriad Hollywood moments, I had been deemed difficult and alienated the head of every major studio,” he wrote in his memoir, “I’m Your Huckleberry.”
One of his more iconic roles — hotshot pilot Tom “Iceman” Kazansky opposite Tom Cruise — almost didn’t happen. Kilmer was courted by director Tony Scott for “Top Gun” but initially balked. “I didn’t want the part. I didn’t care about the film. The story didn’t interest me,” he wrote in his memoir. He agreed after being promised that his role would improve from the initial script. He would reprise the role in the film’s 2022 sequel, “Top Gun: Maverick.”
One career nadir was playing Batman in Joel Schumacher’s goofy, garish “Batman Forever” with Nicole Kidman and opposite Chris O’Donnell’s Robin — before George Clooney took up the mantle for 1997’s “Batman & Robin” and after Michael Keaton played the Dark Knight in 1989’s “Batman” and 1992’s “Batman Returns.”
Janet Maslin in the Times said Kilmer was “hamstrung by the straight-man aspects of the role,” while Roger Ebert deadpanned that he was a “completely acceptable” substitute for Keaton. Kilmer, who was one and done as Batman, blamed much of his performance on the suit.
“When you’re in it, you can barely move and people have to help you stand up and sit down,” Kilmer said in “Val,” in lines spoken by his son Jack, who voiced the part of his father in the film because of his inability to speak. “You also can’t hear anything and after a while people stop talking to you, it’s very isolating. It was a struggle for me to get a performance past the suit, and it was frustrating until I realized that my role in the film was just to show up and stand where I was told to.”
His next projects were the film version of the 1960s TV series “The Saint” — fussily putting on wigs, accents and glasses — and “The Island of Dr. Moreau” with Marlon Brando, which became one of the decade’s most infamously cursed productions.
David Gregory’s 2014 documentary “Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley’s Island of Dr. Moreau,” described a cursed set that included a hurricane, Kilmer bullying director Richard Stanley, the firing of Stanley via fax (who sneaked back on set as an extra with a mask on) and extensive rewrites by Kilmer and Brando. The older actor told the younger at one point: “‘It’s a job now, Val. A lark. We’ll get through it.’ I was as sad as I’ve ever been on a set,” Kilmer wrote in his memoir.
In 1996, Entertainment Weekly ran a cover story about Kilmer titled “The Man Hollywood Loves to Hate.” The directors Schumacher and John Frankenheimer, who finished “The Island of Dr. Moreau,” said he was difficult. Frankenheimer said there were two things he would never do: “Climb Mount Everest and work with Val Kilmer again.”
Other artists came to his defense, like D. J. Caruso, who directed Kilmer in “The Salton Sea” and said the actor simply liked to talk out scenes and enjoyed having a director’s attention.
“Val needs to immerse himself in a character. I think what happened with directors like Frankenheimer and Schumacher is that Val would ask a lot of questions, and a guy like Schumacher would say, ‘You’re Batman! Just go do it,’” Caruso told the Times in 2002.
After “The Island of Dr. Moreau,” the movies were smaller, like David Mamet human-trafficking thriller “Spartan”; “Joe the King” in 1999, in which he played a paunchy, abusive alcoholic; and playing the doomed 70’s porn star John Holmes in 2003’s “Wonderland.” He also threw himself into his one-man stage show “Citizen Twain,” in which he played Mark Twain.
“I enjoy the depth and soul the piece has that Twain had for his fellow man and America,” he told Variety in 2018. “And the comedy that’s always so close to the surface, and how valuable his genius is for us today.”
Kilmer spent his formative years in the Chatsworth neighborhood of Los Angeles. He attended Chatsworth High School alongside future Oscar winner Kevin Spacey and future Emmy winner Mare Winningham. At 17, he was the youngest drama student ever admitted at the Juilliard School in 1981.
Shortly after he left for Juilliard, his younger brother, 15-year-old Wesley, suffered an epileptic seizure in the family’s Jacuzzi and died on the way to the hospital. Wesley was an aspiring filmmaker when he died.
“I miss him and miss his things. I have his art up. I like to think about what he would have created. I’m still inspired by him,” Kilmer told the Times.
While still at Juilliard, Kilmer co-wrote and appeared in the play “How It All Began” and later turned down a role in Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Outsiders” for the Broadway play, “Slab Boys,” alongside Kevin Bacon and Sean Penn.
Kilmer published two books of poetry (including “My Edens After Burns”) and was nominated for a Grammy in 2012 for spoken word album for “The Mark of Zorro.” He was also a visual artist and a lifelong Christian Scientist.
He dated Cher, married and divorced actor Joanne Whalley. He is survived by their two children, Mercedes and Jack.
“I have no regrets,” Kilmer told the AP in 2021. “I’ve witnessed and experienced miracles.”