A divided Mollywood seems in no mood for a compromise as the warring factions stepped up their rhetoric on a day when the anti-piracy cell zeroed in on three contract employees of the regional office of the Censor Board over the Premam piracy controversy.
In a clear indication that it will initiate legal proceedings against those who raised baseless allegations against its leadership, the Film Employees Federation of Kerala (FEFKA) will meet soon to chalk out legal measures, including defamation, against those who had placed its general secretary B. Unnikrishnan under a cloud of suspicion.
“These people had levelled allegations against not only Unnikrishnan but also filmmaker Priyadarshan too even before the probe started. We were waiting for the final findings of the investigating agency. The federation will soon initiate defamation proceedings against them,” said Sibi Malayil, FEFKA president.
The associations of producers and distributors lost no time to blame Anwar Rasheed, producer of Premam , for jumping the gun by stating that he had received little support from the trade bodies in nabbing the culprits behind the movie piracy.
“Now, it is clear that the lapse has come from the side of the producer. They should have been alert and ensured that the censor copy was properly sealed and handed over safely at the board office,” said Siyad Kokker, president of the Kerala Film Distributors Association.
But P.V. Basheer Ahamed, president of the Kerala Film Exhibitors Federation, held the censor officer responsible for the piracy. “It is the responsibility of the censor officer to protect the censor copy. The investigation is not on the proper track,” he alleged.
G. Suresh Kumar, president of the Kerala Film Producers Association, pointed out that many earlier movies would have got leaked from the Censor Board regional office owing to the sheer lack of security measures and surveillance.
“These three contract employees had left the office in June even before the end of their service period. The regional office lacks CCTV cameras and related security and safety measures,” he said.
Mr. Anwar Rasheed was not available for comment despite repeated attempts.
FEFKA will initiate legal proceedings against those who raised baseless allegations against its leadership.
