Actor Asha Sharath lodges cyber cell complaint against abuse for 'Evidey' promo

Two days after putting up a promotional video of her upcoming movie Evidey, and a controversy erupting over it, actor Asha Sharath has lodged a complaint against the abusive messages she has been receiving on social media with the cyber police.

“I have also written to the DGP Lokanath Behera,” she confirms on a call.

The video, which had become a point of discussion, has Asha appear in a moving car, looking shattered and saying her husband Zacharia is missing, and that if anyone knows anything about it, to report to the Kattappana police station. At the end of the one minute video, the titles of the movie come up. In the caption, it is written: ‘#Evidey Promotion video’.

“So many attacks have come for the video. I don’t know what it is – if it is simply anti-woman or someone wanting to destroy a good movie. Edited copies of the video have been posted on groups, cutting off the beginning and end parts of it to make it look like I am making a plea about my missing husband, and not the character,” Asha says.

Sreejith Perumana, a lawyer, had registered a complaint against Asha with the Idukki police for putting up ‘a fake video’. The video had reportedly confused people watching it who took it for real and made calls to the Kattappana police station (which Asha mentions in her video).

“But it is a clear movie promotion. Years ago, when Padmarajan’s Innale was released, newspapers carried a photo of Shobana (who played the female lead in the movie) and said ‘this girl is missing’. It was a promotional ad for the movie. Evidey is a very good film, it is not fair that some people are trying to destroy it,” she adds.

The makers have stood behind Asha and have put out a statement in support of the actor. “It has come to our attention that Ms Asha Sharath, the lead actor of our movie Evidey has been subject to condemning remarks and horrifying cyber abuse and harassment because of a promotional video content that was shared on her official page and movie pages prior to the release. We would like to make it clear to all those raising concerns and sharing feedback that , it was purely done as part of movie promotions upon official request from our side, where her character Jessy was speaking about her missing husband,” it says.

Evidey was released on Thursday. The film directed by KK Rajeev and scripted by C Krishnan is based on a story by Bobby and Sanjay. Asha Sharath, Manoj K Jayan, Shebin Benson, Suraj Venjaramoodu and Prem Prakash play important characters in the thriller.