Rima Kallingal (file)
| Photo Credit: THULASI KAKKAT
Actor Rima Kallingal, one of the founders of the Women in Cinema Collective (WCC), has filed a defamation suit against Tamil playback singer Suchitra over her allegations that the former had hosted drug-fuelled rave parties. The singer had alleged in a YouTube interview that the actor’s career was affected in view of these parties.
In a social media post on Tuesday (September 3, 2024), Ms. Kallingal denied the allegations and stated that she has filed a complaint before the special investigation team (SIT) [probing allegations of sexual abuse in Malayalam cinema] and sent her a defamation notice.
“Although these wild theories did not make it into the mainstream news, her baseless statements about me – based on a news article she read about my so-called “arrest” – gained traction. Let me make it clear that such an event never occurred,” she said.
“Over the past two days, several news outlets have reported on statements made by her in an interview with a YouTube channel. In the 30-minute interview, she not only names and shames the survivor of the 2017 sexual assault, claiming the survivor “knew it was coming”, but she also alleges that Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, [actors] Mohanlal and Mammootty conspired through the Hema Committee to sabotage the careers of actors like Fahadh [Faasil]. We all know why the Hema Committee was formed. Anyone suggesting otherwise should be questioned,” said Ms. Kallingal.
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The actor concluded her post by thanking all those who stood with the WCC’s cause.
The Hema Committee, which probed the problems faced by women in Malayalam cinema, was set up by the Kerala government following a petition submitted by the collective after a woman actor was allegedly abducted and sexually assaulted in a moving car on the night of February 17, 2017 in Kochi.