“By demanding money from the Khadi board, Mohanlal is throwing mud into the plates of the Khadi employees (a euphemism for destroying someone's livelihood),” an agitated Shobhana George tells TNM on Friday. Shobhana, who is the vice-chairperson of the Kerala Khadi and Village Industries Board, was reacting to the defamation notice sent to the board by Malayalam actor Mohanlal, demanding a public apology or a compensation of Rs 50 crore for allegedly ruining his public image.
In 2018, the Khadi board had sent a letter to a private textile company regarding their advertisement in which Mohanlal was seen spinning the ‘charka’, a traditional spinning wheel, also featuring the song ‘Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram’.
“As per law the charka and the song cannot be used in an advertisement of a private organisation,” alleges Shobhana. She said that after the board sent the notice regarding this, the private company had taken off the advertisement. “It was not even a legal notice. It was just a letter. And a couple of months after that, the actor sent a legal notice demanding this much money or a public apology.” The legal notice was sent in Shobhana’s name in November last year.
Shobhana says she feels that there is no need to offer an apology and in the event of the board losing the defamation complaint, they did not have money to pay.
“Thousands of women work for the Khadi Board and they hardly earn anything. Their earnings come from the sale of products they make,” Shobhana argues. She says that Mohanlal, being the brand ambassador of Kaithiri (handloom) should have known better than to act in an advertisement for a private dhoti company. “Now the sales of the private company’s dhotis have gone up and our sales have come down,” claims Shobhana.
By stating that Mohanlal is not just an actor and that he is also a Lieutenant Colonel, as well as the recipient of the Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri awards, the Khadi Board vice-chairperson stated that the actor has the moral responsibility to protect laws such as not using the charka and the bhajan in private advertisements.