Hours after Mollywood woke up to yet another viral video featuring Bineesh Bastin, director Anil Radhakrishnan Menon has responded to the allegations and has apologized.
Responding to Manorama News, Menon stated that he usually stays away from public events and functions. When the college union insisted, he finally agreed. “At that time, I was told that only I will be there for the function. The evening just before the event, the students called me up again telling me that Bineesh Bastin will also be there. After knowing that, I was a little hesitant to be part of the event as I am usually uncomfortable in attending such functions. Bineesh is known among the young generation while not many knows me. Hence I had my own apprehensions in going for a starry event.”
Later, it was the college authorities themselves who informed the director about the slight change in programmes. “I was told that the programmes have been split in two – one magazine inauguration which will have me and the other college day inauguration which will have Bineesh. Since I just didn't want to dishearten the students, I went ahead. I was totally unaware of the fact that Bineesh was present in the premises while I was delivering the speech at the event. When he came up to the stage, I was the one to asked the students to cheer for him and even asked him to sit on the chair. I was clueless as to what was going on,” he said.
Further, the director asserted that if he didn't want him on stage he wouldn't have welcomed him. “Now, I am being attacked brutally on cyber space. I never wanted to insult anyone. If Bineesh feels that I should apologize, I am ready to and I apologize now from the bottom of my heart. I have never treated anyone partially. To me everyone stands equal. Moreover, I don't support any caste, religion or any such differences for that matter. And Menon is a title I have since birth,” he concluded.
When asked if he had any problem with Bineesh, Menon said, “I want to specifically mention that I am not used to attending such functions whether with Bineesh or someone else. I have no problem with him. The biggest irony here is that Bineesh is cast in my next movie.”
Earlier this year, Anil Radhakrishnan Menon had announced his next movie, titled Ghamarunnisa scripted by Santhosh Thrivikraman.
Talking about the incident, Palakkad college union chairman K Vaishnav told Manorama News that Anil Radhkrishnan Menon had never mentioned with the caste factor though he had expressed his unwillingness to share stage with Bineesh Bastin. “We explained the matter to Bineesh Bastin. Though he was fine with the arrangement initially, he changed his mind later thereby leading to the incident that transpired,” said Vishnav.
Meanwhile, Bineesh denied the alleged charges that he had approached the director for chances. He said, "It was the makers themselves who had approached me for a role in his movie Lord Livingstone 7000 Kandi. It was disheartening to see that I was seen only for seconds in the movie, despite shooting for 40 days."
