The Ernakulam Central police have filed a First Information Report against seven individuals and YouTube channels that posted “negative reviews” about a Malayalam film called Rahel Makan Korah, which was released in theatres on October 13. The director of the film Ubaini E approached the police, saying that the accused had used their Facebook accounts and YouTube channels to post obscene comments and negative reviews about the film on the day of its release. Ubaini also claimed that the accused threatened to further "harm the film" if he proceeded legally against them.
Among the seven accused are popular Youtuber Aswanth Kok, owner of a film promotion company Hains, YouTubers Arun Tharanga, NV Focus, Trend Sector 24x7, Travelling Soulmates and owner of the Facebook account anoopanu6165. Social media platforms YouTube and Facebook are also named as the eighth and ninth accused respectively for facilitating these reviews.
The complaint claimed that the reviewers posted the reviews and obscene comments between 2 pm and 7pm on the day of the release, with the deliberate intention of making the film look bad. In his Youtube video posted on October 14, Aswanth Kok, one of the accused, had spoken about the six Malayalam films that released that week including Rahel Makan Korah. He said that he had not watched any of these six films and added sarcastically that because there were no reviews from him, all six were doing really well.
Earlier this month the Kerala High Court sought the views of the State Police Chief after it received a plea from a filmmaker asking to allow reviews of social media influencers and vloggers only seven days after a film's release. Director Mubeen Rouf, who made the film Aromalinte Aadyathe Pranayam, had asked for a gag order on such reviews, alleging that some online reviewers had threatened to post negative reviews if he did not pay them to promote his movie.