The Women in Cinema Collective (WCC) in Kerala has condemned director Liju Krishna and Saregama productions for targeting a WCC member at a press meet in Kochi on October 21. Liju Krishna, the director of Padavettu starring Nivin Pauly, was arrested on March 6, 2022, after a case was filed against him by a woman alleging rape. The woman had helped him write parts of the movie's script. She had demanded that Saregama productions, which produced Padavettu, remove Liju’s name from the title. She has been under treatment for months, going through trauma, following the assault. However, this demand was not met. Meanwhile, Liju claimed that a WCC member was targeting him for personal reasons at the press meet in Kochi. His version was challenged as illogical by journalists at the press meet itself.
"Neither WCC as an organisation, nor any of our members individually, had responded to the press conference by the rape accused director of Padavettu, Liju Krishna. It was because the film was in the theatres and we respect the collective effort of the hundreds of film professionals who worked in it. Liju was arrested on March 6, 2022, for allegedly raping and assaulting a woman. Following this, the FEFKA Directors Union had officially terminated his membership from their organisation. However, that did not stop the production house of the film Padavettu and their team members from continuing to provide a platform to Liju along with another #MeToo accused production executive Bipin Paul, to speak against WCC and make wild and untrue allegations against one of our members, simply because we stood by the survivor," WCC said in a statement.
In August 2022, another young woman had revealed her story on the Facebook page Women Against Sexual Harassment. She later told TNM that the movie's executive producer Bipin Paul had asked her to attend an audition in July 2019. "I attended the audition at Aroma Resort in Mattannur, Kannur. I was told it was for the female lead and that Nivin Pauly would play the male lead. I was also given the impression that Sunny Wayne, who is the producer of the film, would be there," she said. The woman narrated how Liju left the scene after a while and she ended up in a cottage with Bipin. At one point, he tried to sexually harass her. Later on, she allegedly found that the female lead for the movie had already been decided and that Bipin had called her for a fake audition.
The WCC shared the survivor’s testimony in the Liju Krishna case and said, "WCC has always stood with the victims who approached us in their traumatic journey towards becoming survivors and we shall continue to do so. At a time when Internal Complaints Committees (ICC) are mandatory as per the law of the land, we try to aid the process by exposing the alleged perpetrators before the authorities by way of supporting the victims. Liju was not an exception. We will continue to wage our war however enduring it might be. We are re-sharing the survivors' social media post to remind everyone of the violent rape and assault charges filed against Liju."