On a day when social media users descended on the Women in Cinema Collective’s Facebook page, unleashing a mass down-rating campaign against them, popular actor Parvathy, an active member of the forum, indicated that she will not be intimidated by the trolls.
The cyber-attack that was directed at Parvathy after she called out the misogyny in Mammootty’s film Kasaba soon spiralled into a hate campaign against her upcoming film My Story. On Tuesday, after WCC shared an article on misogyny in Malayalam cinema, the page came under a vitriolic attack by users.
Being the badass that she is, Parvathy indicated that the continued cyber-attacks have little or no effect on her.
What a glorious time to be alive!
— Parvathy T K (@parvatweets) January 1, 2018
Everyone showing their truest colours *sits back with popcorn and watches on*
While Twitter users took the opportunity to pull down WCC yet again, Parvathy had the perfect reply for them.
Replying to a tweet that said that the collapse of WCC wasn’t far away, Parvathy said:
“Unfortunate for those who expect it – that day would never come.”
As the down-rating campaign continues for the second day, popular author KR Meera came out in support of WCC, calling it a historic movement.
Speaking about how poorly women are represented in political parties and other collectives, Meera went on to laud the formation of and the activities of WCC.
“Considering the condition of our Malayalam film industry, it takes immense courage to even dream about a collective exclusively by women. Because, it is not a collective that the men in the industry ‘gifted’ the women. WCC does not have men who are its protectors or advisers. This collective has proved that women are capable of forming a collective for themselves and that they do not want the men to speak for them. This is a historic move,” Meera wrote in a Facebook post in Malayalam.
Attack on My Story
With the arrest of two men last week for issuing death and rape threats to Parvathy on social media, the hate campaign against her was directed at her upcoming movie My Story. When a song from the movie – Pathungi Pathungi – was released on YouTube, it got massive dislikes in the span of a few hours, making it evident that it was an organised attack.
The film, directed by debutant director Roshni Dinaker, also stars Prithviraj. Commenting on the dislike campaign, Roshni said that it appeared to be a “paid conspiracy.”
“It is very sad. I think the hate campaign is a paid conspiracy. The kind of abusive words used by these people on my Facebook page against Parvathy is an indicator of what she is subjected to,” The New Indian Express quoted Roshni as saying.
The music director of the film, Shaan Rahman, too expressed his shock at the kind of response the song has garnered on the internet.
“I don’t know what to say. Our people get emotional all the time. They get angry at the drop of a hat. I had high expectations when I composed this song. I was definitely worried when it was met with such a response. This is the first time that one of my songs got such a response, despite it being the first Malayalam song to release this year. Not only me, everyone associated with the movie are worried. The responses are getting to everyone,” Shaan told Manorama Online.