Kerala film bodies have decided to cooperate with actors Shane Nigam and Sreenath Bhasi, four months after office bearers of various organisations said that they would not include the actors in their films any longer. Following complaints of the actors’ conduct on the sets, allegedly under the influence of drugs, the Kerala Film Producers Association had declared that they wouldn’t include the two actors in their films and that they had communicated the decision to other film bodies such as the Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes (A.M.M.A.) and Film Employees Federation of Kerala (FEFKA).
However, they have withdrawn the ‘ban’ after Sreenath Bhasi reportedly apologised to the associations and Shane Nigam agreed to make course-corrections.
In April, when the Producers Association president Renjith M announced the decision to exclude the actors, he added that it was not a ban, since producers willing to take the risk of having them were free to do so. Renjith had alleged that both the actors would create issues on the sets when they were under the influence of drugs, by coming late to work or else signing multiple films on the same dates. This had caused a lot of loss to the producers, he said. Renjith had also claimed that the actors showed no respect for directors, producers or senior actors. While admitting that there were other actors who used substance while working in films, he said that there were however no complaints against them.
Sreenath Bhasi was in trouble last year after he had allegedly verbally abused the crew of a YouTube channel during the shooting of an interview. Shane Nigam too had faced a ban four years ago after he had allegedly caused the delay of two films Veyil and Qurbaani due to his unprofessional behaviour in the sets. However, none of the film associations have taken action against those accused of sexual assault like Vijay Babu or Liju Krishna. Even Dileep, the alleged mastermind of the 2017 actor assault, was only out of A.M.M.A. for hardly a year, that too after he offered his resignation when the film body seemed hesitant to do so. He was promptly reinstated later.