“There are no words for the pain burning inside me. They made me ‘methachi’, then ‘Jihadi’. Isolated me in the name of religious conversion,” thus begins a social media post by actor Ansiba Hassan, who was the centre of a controversy involving the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (A.M.M.A.).
While mud-slinging and name-calling have never been new to internal conflict-ridden A.M.M.A., the silence in the Malayalam film industry over blatant islamophobia and targeted hate campaign is deafening.
Ansiba, a young actress in the Malayalam industry, was an active member of A.M.M.A. till she resigned her post as its joint secretary last month. What began as an internal conflict in the executive committee of the actors’ association soon escalated into Ansiba being allegedly singled out for her religion, which, unfortunately, only a few in the industry have called out.
In a recent interview with The Cue, Ansiba wondered if someone like her, who does not strictly follow every practice of Islam, could be portrayed as an extremist, what might happen to a more devout believer.
Ansiba, on June 19, filed a petition at the Ernakulam Judicial First Class Magistrate court against her co-actor Tiny Tom, alleging that he made abusive and communal remarks against her. She moved court following an alleged delay from the Kochi police in filing an FIR on her complaint.
On Friday, June 26, Ansiba filed a separate complaint at Palarivattom police station against actor Lakshmi Priya, who was former A.M.M.A. vice president, former A.M.M.A. president Swetha Menon and Sukumar, owner of an online entertainment channel ‘canchannelmedia’, alleging a malicious campaign against her.
Allegation of religious conversion
Sources in A.M.M.A. said that islamophobic hate campaign against Ansiba began a few months ago after she began questioning the decisions of the governing body.
“Some members of the executive committee used to make Islamophobic allegations against Ansiba in her absence. It came out recently as part of the internal strife. Actress Neena Kurup secretly recorded these conversations and shared them with Ansiba,” said a member.
As per the allegation, Ansiba had attempted to convert to Islam a few persons, including the son of a production controller and the driver of co-actor Tiny Tom, on the set of the movie Police Day.
Actress Maala Parvathy told TNM that she decided to check with the production controller, Rajeev Kudappanakunnu, after hearing allegations that Ansiba tried to convert his son, Sri Kailas, an assistant director.
“Rajeev told me that the allegations were absurd. It began with a few persons observing Ramzan fast voluntarily at the set. On my request, Rajeev shared a voice note where he said that the conversion allegation was baseless and his son observed fast as per his free will,” she said.
In the voice note, available with TNM, Rajeev is heard saying that his family members treat every faith with equal respect. “Some said they went to the mosque after breaking the fast, which my son clarified as untrue,” he said. Later, Sri Kailas gave a similar statement to the police, denying the allegations.
Speaking to television channels later, Tiny denied raising any communal allegations against Ansiba.
Maala Parvathy alleged that Ansiba was a headache for the A.M.M.A. executive committee.
“She would question every decision, won’t allow suspicious deals and has taken a strong stand against executive members getting commission for sponsorship deals. So they tried to build a Kerala Story around her,” Parvathy said, referring to the Hindi film known for its Islamophobic and communal content.
Along with the allegations of religious conversion, Ansiba also had a fallout with actor Lakshmi Priya, who recently resigned from the post of vice president of A.M.M.A. as well as its primary membership. Lakshmi had filed a complaint against Ansiba at the Tripunithura police station, alleging that she sent her defamatory messages.
Ansiba later alleged that police acted in a biased manner, harassed her and made her sign an apology letter.
In a press meet convened to share details of her complaint on June 10, actor Lakshmi Priya alleged that Ansiba had the backing of communal elements. “I suspect religious and communal elements are behind Ansiba. There is an agenda behind her acts,” Lakshmi Priya told the media, adding that she had decided to file a defamation suit against Ansiba.
Temple as sponsor
Issues in A.M.M.A. escalated ahead of its ‘family meet’ when a temple in Kochi offered a huge amount of money for making it the title sponsor. As per reports, Ansiba was the lone voice which opposed receiving title sponsorship from a religious body. After this, communal allegations against her spread out of the meeting rooms of A.M.M.A.
“It pains me when they say I opposed it because I am a Muslim. I am a citizen of India. Why do they say that to me? When such questions are targeted at one person, it feels like we were picked and segregated. No one should face it. That is why I decided to say it outside A.M.M.A.,” Ansiba said in the interview with ‘The Cue’.
Despite allegations that Ansiba was called a ‘Jihadi’ by certain A.M.M.A. members, there was no open condemnation against it by any prominent persons in the industry.
A.M.M.A. general body meeting was held in the midst of the controversy on June 21. The stormy session ended with the entire committee, including A.M.M.A.’s first woman president, Swetha Menon, resigning over allegations of financial mismanagement.
A.M.M.A. members TNM spoke to said that the general body had lengthy discussions, including a plan to conduct the next family meet in Thailand, before heated exchanges began and ended in the resignation of committee members.
“Still, no one bothered to discuss the hate campaign against a fellow member,” said an actor.
When TNM reached out to Ansiba, she said that she was not in the right mental state to talk about the issue.
