The Indian film world’s predators are getting their comeuppance thanks to a survivor’s persistence and the delayed results of an official probe
In 2017, popular TV anchor Johnny Luckose asked Mohanlal, superstar of south India’s ‘Mollywood’ (the nickname for the Malayalam film industry, located in Kerala), about the top gossip of the day: that the actor had celebrated after sleeping with his 3,000th woman. Mohanlal sarcastically brushed it off, saying the number was more.
Misogyny and patriarchy are regularly portrayed and accepted in Indian movies. And it was widely suspected that sexual exploitation was rampant in the film industries all over India; but no one ever spoke out about it publicly. Until Mollywood actress Karthika Menon, aka Bhavana, finally pricked the industry’s bubble of lies and bonhomie.
Assaulted in a moving vehicle in February 2017, Bhavana complained to police. Her colleague Dileep (56), a popular but mediocre actor…