Anjali Menon and WCC instigating false complaints ; Kerala 's FEFKA

Now it seems that Anjali Menon and WCC are the troublemakers behind all the issues that were raised against FEFKA the Malayalam filmdom trade body,. Women workers were being forced to level allegations at instance of WCC. To drive the point , the hairdresser lady who worked in Anjali Menon’s film Koode backs this charge by Sibi Malayil who heads FEFKA. But after going through Sibi Malayil’s charge, a little bit of probing , I find that Anjali had been taking up the case of three women makeup members sitting on a dharna in front of the union office. . Read Anjali’s post ; Why does one have to struggle so much to work in this industry? to get memberships in the unions/ organisations? to hold onto safety and workplace rights? to speak up when there is a grievance? to get issues addressed without being intimidated or silenced? Since yesterday these women are sitting on a hunger strike outside the Make Up Union’s office. Where are the organisations and departments that are supposed to work for their welfare and rights? Where is the change? Where is the intent? Now read this ; In a press conference, make-up artist Mitta Antony criticised WCC founder member and director Anjali Menon. n my first movie ‘Koode’, it was Anjali Menon who asked my associate to leave the set. But at last, all blame fell upon me. It was her doings but I got crucified. everything was a game plan of WCC Now Sibi to drive home the point that WCC members are out to create trouble for no reason talks about an incident :”Last night, a leading actress and another member of WCC came to our office at night for a discussion over the issue. As it was late at night, we suggested that the meeting be continued the next morning. However, the WCC members were not ready to leave the office. They are forcing the complainants to talk more about us and aggravate the whole issue”

Why the protest : The protesting artistes alleged that those who deposed before the Hema Committee and resisted harassment are being persecuted with disciplinary actions such as suspension. In contrast, no action has been taken so far against a AKCMH member accused in a case registered under the Protection of Children against Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. “The strike was settled after a discussion with FEFKA officials and the agitators under the leadership of the regional labour officer. Many of the demands raised by the protesters were accepted. We will hold meetings with makeup artists and hair stylists to solve any issues and complaints,” added Sibi.

Did GOAT box office one week cover Thalapathy's Rs 200 crore - Activist actress says all Fine

After one week of theatre run globally , it looks like GOAT has just about managed to cover the Rs 200 crore paid to Thalapathy. AGS Archana herself confirmed this amount paid to Vijay and said that they were covered by the pre- release business. If we look at post release business and which means the money coming for people who bought the screening rights, GOAT India wide Net is Rs 171 crore. Out of this Tamil Nadu share was Rs 150 crore and Rs 21 crore from other languages. Now one may that collections will increase but reality is that Day one across Tamil Nadu, it was Rs 39 crores and Day 7 , the figure is Rs 7.2 crores. Overseas figures are at Rs 130 crores. So it reaches the Rs 300 crore mark in 7 days ! A record indeed. Those rooting for Jailer should understand that in overseas GOAT is going strong and only a week has passed. Usually considered strong markets, Kerala and two Telugu States has underperformed and that too very badly. AGS with digital, satellite and OTT rights will have a profit. At the end of the day, the entire exercise looks like it was an effort to recover Thalapathy’s wages.

A prominent actress who deposed before Hema Committee is said to have given a statement that there is no sexual harassment by male actors on the sets or outside. She claimed ignorance of any such acts where actress was denied roles as they had not cooperated with actors. The most surprise element was that this actress was in the forefront of calling for a probe after Dilip case and part of setting up WCC. The somersault had even baffled the committee members. Even while the Dilip case reference was put forth to this actress, she termed it as fall out between the actor and actress concerned and termed it as an isolated incident. On hindsight, those in the know say that the actress had backtracked before the committee as she would have been told by `power group’ to not precipitate the matter. This actress despite her tough stance on the sexual assault case , had no dearth of work in Malayalam films. B Unnikrishnan of FEFKA the film trade union body says that Hema committee should taken statements from members of the body and had relied on mostly those from WCC or those aligned with them. It seems one section of the AMMA is planning to form a parallel body and seek trade union status. On the other hand, a move is on to group members around to retain the charitable societies status of AMMA.