A poster of the film RamaleelaActor-director Joy Mathew always wears his heart on his sleeve. Interestingly, his Facebook posts too are of the same ilk – loud, clear and unapologetic.
This time around, the actor has come in support of Dileep’s Ramaleela, which is slated for release next week.
In his latest Facebook post, Joy Mathew says that the movie and its director have got nothing to do with the fact that its main protagonist is currently in jail for allegedly plotting the attack on the young actress.
“In a democratic society, viewers have full freedom to choose whether to watch Ramaleela or not. Only a few movies are identified by the maker’s name. So, it is quite natural for movies to be hero-oriented, that too in a patriarchal society like ours. This trend could be seen even in the movies of ace filmmakers like Adoor Gopalakrishnan, who is considered as one of the torchbearers of great artworks.
The directors even plan their movies according to the availability of the dates of the stars. Cinema is a product, which is not known by the name of its maker but the hero who acted in it,” he says.
The actor adds that Manju Warrier is the only female artist who enjoys a similar stardom in Kerala.
Defending Arun Gopy, the director of Ramaleela, Joy Mathew said, “He has never had a chance to prove himself as a filmmaker; so, until he does that, Ramaleela would be known as a Dileep movie.
“No director can predict whether someone who worked in his film would turn a criminal in the future. Moreover, Keralites are not dumb to think that the court would acquit the accused just because his movie becomes a hit or vice versa. The court of justice works not on a baseless exhibition of sympathy but by delivering rational and strong justice based on solid evidence produced before it,” he wrote.
The actor also cites the example of Polish director Roman Polanski’s The Pianist, which is considered as a classic anti-fascist movie by many enthusiasts even though its director was sentenced to jail for molesting an underage girl. He added that the Munnabhai series raked in money at the box office when its lead hero Sanjay Dutt served a six-year jail term for acquiring illegal weapons for Yakoob Memen, the mastermind behind the 1993 Mumbai blasts that claimed the lives of 250 people.
“The success or failure of Ramaleela is definitely not the deciding factor of the justice that the attacked actress deserves. Many might now ask me whose side am I on, I am definitely with her; and I am also with cinema.”
Dileep and Joy MathewJoy Mathew concludes his post by saying that movies should not be judged by the deeds or misdeeds of its hero, but by the creative and artistic qualities of the movie.
The actor also has a word for online trolls, “Let me make one thing clear, I am not showing any double standards here. I have only one stand and I have made it very clear,” he says.
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