Willing to learn and move forward, Parvathy responds to Vidhu's allegations

Days after writer director Vidhu Vincent's allegations, actress Parvathy has responded through her social media page. Parvathy, in a long post, stated that she's making a public clarification as Vidhu chose to point fingers at her in public.

Parvathy revealed that she has never been this disturbed while writing anything on social media.

"I thought a lot whether or not to respond to these allegations for two reasons. First, some of the issues raised by Vidhu were pertaining to WCC as an organisation, and that needed to be addressed first, as the cause of this Collective and movement are of priority to me. Second are the other issues raised by Vidhu that are against individual members of WCC. I am going to address the ones raised against me. In Vidhu’s letter to WCC, she says she had sent me the screenplay of her film and waited for six months. She alleges that I did not respond to her offer at any point. I would like to clarify the sequence of events," she wrote.

Recollecting the entire episode, she recalled how it began in May 2018.

"My work for My Story and Koode was being completed but I was fatigued by the long ensuing hate campaigns and threats that were being made against me at that time. I was advised to take a break from work for a few months ceasing work communications. I recommenced work with Uyare in November. In December, at a WCC meeting, Vidhu mentioned that I had been unresponsive to her casting offer. When I was asked about this matter, I distinctly remember messaging Vidhu with profuse apologies explaining that I had been away and not known anything about her project. She clarified that she had tried to contact me on Whatsapp; I requested her to resend the message. She did and it was a single message with a short one-paragraph synopsis of the film dated May 30,2018. I apologised again and asked her if she would still consider me for the role. She was keen so we agreed to meet on the sets of Uyare. As a professional practice, I discourage script narrations on sets but I suggested this only because I did not want to delay her in any manner. Meanwhile, as I was feeling bad about this, I wrote to everyone, including Vidhu, revealing sensitive details about how deeply I was impacted by the harsh personal attacks and online hate. This was the first time I had shared such intimate details about myself in full trust and hope that they would understand my health condition. I specified that I was making immediate amends for unintentional lapses that may have occurred on my part during that period.

Soon Vidhu and her writer came to the sets of Uyare and narrated the script in full detail. I heard them and reflected on it but told them politely that the script did not work for me. When she persisted, I also informed her that there were time constraints as well considering my prior commitments to the next two projects in line. Knowing her need to start filming soon, I informed her that it did not look practical as it would be difficult to find the time for me to prepare for a role of a stand-up comedian. Since she was insistent that I give it another thought, I agreed to revert with a final decision within ten days. As agreed, in the next few days I made a phone call and informed her that I would not be able to do the project. She shared that she understands my decision and updated me on the developments on the project when I enquired. As we hung up, we wished each other well. From the sets of Uyare, I proceeded to the shoot of Virus and then Varthamanam and the dubbing of Uyare until the end of March. During this intense work period, I was surprised when Vidhu sent me a screenplay draft by e-mail even though I had clearly said no to the project. Within about 30-40 days, the poster of “Stand Up” released with Nimisha Sajayan’s photograph on it. I was thrilled to see that such a powerful performer was going to portray that role.

The next time I spoke to Vidhu was after the release of “Stand Up”. During her promotional interviews, I saw headlines in which she had mentioned my working with actor Siddique, who is also an accused of #metoo. Though in the interviews, Vidhu had spoken about how women like her and I were forced to often work with detractors. The description title of the interview was misleading to sound accusatory. On December 14th, 2019, I called Vidhu to talk about this and we had a friendly chat. When I shared my concern she told me that she was misquoted to make the headline clickbaity. She asked me to listen to the contents of the interview and I assured her that I had. However, I asked her if she could request the respective journalist to avoid descriptions that could seem like pitting us against each other which she agreed to follow up on. I also enquired how she was holding up and I remember saying all that matters is that the movie gets a good run. The conversation over the phone ended with a promise to meet soon. The warm and friendly tone of this entire conversation somehow was not reflected in her resignation letter," she explained.

Admitting that Vidhu’s journey to make 'Stand up' had been a tough one, she added, "I would never cancel out her pain, her journey and her struggles in any way. Way before box-office success came my way, in the first seven years of my career I have had no godfather or godmother to guide me or come to my aid. I am not one to discount any struggle that we, women, as artists go through. Having decided to carve my own path and living alone from the age of 19, I have seen many lows that I have not shared much about. Being a part of the Collective and interacting with so many women has shown me what my privileges are, without taking away the fact that all of us had to traverse through difficult and painful paths. No matter how successful we are and the backgrounds we come from, we are relegated to the “Second Sex” in this industry. Which is why I am distraught that one of our own, from whom I’ve learned a lot, one who helped me immensely during a massive crisis, spoke of the need to stay within the Collective and help it grow, chose to allegate against me despite knowing much more than the rest of the world knows. I know Vidhu to be a very vocal, communicative person who voices her thoughts quite openly, so it hurts me that she did not speak to me about whatever issues she had with me. My work is owed to filmmakers. I respect them and their time. I am immensely grateful to every filmmaker who would offer me opportunities to collaborate with them, whether it works out or not. It dismays me to think that any of the filmmakers whose offers I have declined, would feel that they are unimportant or feel humiliated. Because that would never be my intention. I need them more than they need me."

Parvathy, also talked about how Women in Cinema Collective changed her views post its formation.

"Before the formation of the collective, my views on feminism were limited. I remember on numerous occasions where I was, with the help of the members, encouraged me to strengthen my political stands, empowered in my ability to empathise and understand the hold of patriarchal conditioning within me and outside. It’s the constant voice of dissent and discussion within the Collective and its supporters as well which opened my eyes to the most important and core value of feminism- Intersectionality. The truth is that not a single member in WCC has ever restricted, interrogated or harassed anyone when it came to professional choices. I know that the Collective has always initiated conversations, to know how to respond and support each other when we negotiate through our paths in the professional world."

"I believe that when the “Time’s Up”; when enough is enough, collectives will keep rising all over the world to direct the tide towards justice. WCC is one such political movement that is above and beyond any individual. I believe in its unrelenting, galvanizing and all-transcending power. I believe we are all here forging an extremely tough path ahead. My heart stays open and my mind, willing to learn and move forward together," she concluded.