Dileep, accused of getting an actress abducted and sexually assaulted, rose from a mimicry artiste to become one of the three big stars of Malayalam cinema.
Bengaluru: “Welcome to Central Jail,” chanted starry-eyed jail inmates as Malayalam movie star Dileep walked in last year, invoking his 2016 blockbuster. But it wasn’t the central jail Dileep was entering, and it was definitely no meet-and-greet with fans.
Dileep was walking into Kerala’s Aluva sub-jail in July after his arrest for the abduction and sexual assault of a Malayalam actress he once mentored.
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The attack was meant to punish the actress, as Dileep suspected she was the one who tipped off his wife Manju Warrier about his affair with another actress. And just like that, the leading triumvirate of so-called Mollywood was left one star short, and horror replaced adulation for thousands of Dileep fans.
The mimicry artist
Dileep aka Gopalakrishnan Padmanabhan Pillai, who turns 50 Saturday, arrived on the entertainment scene as a mimicry artiste in the Kalabhavan troupe.
He got his first acting break in 1992, when director Kamal gave him a minor role in the Malayalam film Ennodu Ishtam Koodamo, an opportunity that reportedly led Dileep to realise that his true calling lay in films.
His debut as lead actor followed two years later in Mannathe Kottaram (1994), adopting his character’s name, Dileep, as his screen name from then on.
With his performance in the 1996 movie Sallapam, he propelled himself as one of the titans of Malayalam cinema, earning a place alongside the industry’s longtime stalwarts Mammooty and Mohanlal.
By early 2000, fans were referring to him as ‘Janapriya Nayakan (people’s hero)’.
Dileep complemented his acting career with a successful foray into business that saw him invest in film distribution, multiplexes and the food industry. At the time of his arrest last year, his business empire was estimated at Rs 600 crore.
“Dileep is a smart businessman,” said Sreedhar Pillai, an analyst of south Indian cinema. “As an actor, he is definitely not in the same league as Mammooty and Mohanlal, but, as a businessman, he is certainly smarter than them.
“He knows how to market his films, which are typically commercial family dramas, filled with slapstick humour, his forte,” he added. “His sharp business skills, coupled with his ability to wear multiple hats as an actor, producer, distributor and exhibitor, make him powerful in the film industry and get him a better package than others in Mollywood.”
A powerful figure
Over the years, Dileep also came to wield great power with the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists, a body for Malayalam cine artists, and is said to have helped pull the association out of a huge financial crisis.
His influence with the Film Employees Federation of Kerala (FEFKA) and the Kerala Film Producers’ Association (KFPA) also grew to a point where, people said, he could build or destroy careers of actors.
“Those who stood by him got more offers and would thrive in the industry,” said an industry insider about Dileep, who is credited with building a powerful second rung of actors in Mollywood.
“If a producer or director who was out of work sought Dileep’s help, he would guide them and they would be able to renew their business,” said the insider. “But those who fell out with him, had a miserable time. Actor Prithviraj, who was not allowed to get film offers, is an example.”
Despite the professional success, however, Dileep’s personal life has been conflicted.
He met his first wife, actress Manju Warrier, on the sets of Sallapam, and the two got married in 1998. When they got divorced 17 years later, Manju said she had been forced to quit her acting career to become a housewife when she married Dileep.
It was sometime during the last years of their marriage that Dileep began courting co-star Kavya Madhavan. It’s this affair that the actress reportedly informed his wife about. Dileep went on to marry Kavya in 2016.
‘Settle scores’
The events that led to Dileep’s arrest by Kerala police, and his subsequent conviction by a local court, resembled a crime thriller.
A man named Pulsar Suni and his gang were found guilty of abducting and sexually assaulting a famous Malayalam actress. During the interrogation, Suni confessed, and named Dileep as a co-conspirator. The actor, he reportedly told police, wanted to “settle scores” with the victim.
According to police, the victim had a close relationship with both Dileep and Manju. Dileep reportedly promoted her extensively and forged several business partnerships with her.
When Manju came to know about his relationship with Kavya, Dileep suspected the unnamed actress had told her, and began to plot revenge, getting Suni on board.
Police say the actress’ abduction was preceded by two attempted attacks, one in Goa, and the other near her home in Thrissur. But they failed.
Following his arrest, Dileep lost his primary membership of AMMA. After 85 days in jail, Dileep was granted bail, and AMMA wasted no time in re-instating him.
This led to several protests, and 14 senior actors, including Geethu Mohandas, Rima Kallingal and Remya Nambeesan, quit the association.
After the assault came to light, a group of women actors had come together to form the Women’s Collective in Cinema. Led by successful women actors and directors, they relentlessly criticised AMMA for their failure to take action against Dileep.
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“Many members of the industry and citizens have… tried to make an example with open statements, boycotts and so on,” said Shakthi Girish, editor of Gallata.com, a web-based film magazine.
“The public is also shocked and has made their displeasure visible. Now we wait to see how much heat both sides can take and how justice will be served,” Girish added.
Bowing to pressure from all quarters, AMMA president Mohanlal said he called up Dileep and asked him to resign. This stoked another row as Dileep claimed he had resigned “voluntarily”.
Speaking to The Print, Deedi Damodaran, one of the founding members of the Women’s Collective, refuted the statement.
“How can anybody tender their resignation when they are not part of the association?” she asked. “That means both AMMA and Dileep are contradicting each other to create a win-win situation for both.”
Deedi, however, noted that the victim and the Women’s Collective had succeeded in ensuring that everyone in the industry will be held answerable for atrocities against women.
“This incident has made a point that any offender will not be spared,” she added, “We will make sure that action against the perpetrator is initiated and the accused is held accountable.”
An earlier version of the report said the actress had been raped. This has been corrected to ‘sexual assault’. The error is regretted.
One has to be considered innocent until proven guilty – that is the correct Legal Position as per constitution, rightly so.
When people use commonsense and general information makes them believe that unlike in certain less serious type of crimes, no professional police will ever arrest and put a person, that too powerful with popularity and money, behind bars alleging conspiracy linked deliberate sexual assault. That perception is also of at most importance in a literate society. And then the average citizen automatically delve into other back grounds and character of a person to read with the accused crime. This gentleman is only now a accused and the proceedings are on. So he gets the excuse of doubt from the critics till case is disposed off.
There are also a section of people, though very less, who believe sexually assaulting a helpless women ,however famous she is, in the inhuman way they tortured and assaulted her in a particular reported , sexual assault, alleged to have done as per revenge conspiracy by another criminally sick person is never heard of.
The gentleman on whom that nasty sick minded devilish crime is accused must not be called a guilty person yet as judicial proceedings are progressing. If he is proclaimed as innocent by judiciary he clear from all accusations subject to higher courts if any that may look into it and can take his life forward. Otherwise, this peculiar crime that reported is unparallel in monstrosity, and totally unacceptable in a civilised society.
For sexual assaults and particularly of this gravity implemented with much deliberate and planned intend as reported, there must be Law amended to give Capital Punishment to anyone guilty.
They are a threat to society and to their own.
However, as mentioned earlier, we have to wait as judiciary is the last word on any crimes and punishment. We can only ask women in families, daughter, wife, or anyone to be cautious of the lurking danger and perpetrators of such filthy crimes who are from any walks of life.
As on today, any number of crimes against women in work places or anywhere is easily highlighted by a Db post or other social media and people are giving tremendous support and publicity against any powerful as we are seeing everywhere. WCC in Kerala is a right step in this direction. Influence in industry and money power can be made into bubbles of a few determined work united against any odds and they will find enough support. There is no need or even any meaning to ask to give justice to female artists of any profession from a male dominated organisation. And from the autocratic, belligerent and threatening body language of certain friends of the person still directly or otherwise displaying his might sitting and watching from behind the curtains fully proved to the public and the women members that they will have to regret later if they drop a separate womens’ organisation also. Those people, as any matured persons can easily understand, that with hot and cold statements and many suspect mannerisms they were SIMPLY trying to arrive at any decision acceptable to their Master figure as they were asked to do. People are very alert and wise in Kerala.
If Dileep has come to this high level then I think it’s his smartness and ability there is no need for others to feel jealous. Media may accuse him for the said charges but none of it is proved and till then he is not a criminal, pls understand that. All these actresses who have formed an association are no saints. These ladies inorder to get fame made compromises and are now complaining!!! There was and is always a choice n u choose the way whatever the field maybe. The said actress was enjoying d company of Dileep and she was totally happy being with him even though he was married to Manju then, when Dileep fell for another actress, the said actress woke up. This is childish… Everyone enjoy together n finally complain now!!!!
“charges but none of it is proved and till then he is not a criminal, ” dileep cant be accused because charges arent proved but you can make a viscious horrible third rate statement – “The said actress was enjoying d company of Dileep and she was totally happy being with him even though he was married to Manju” without any proof?
paid bot of dileep or cheapster horrible criminal like him.
kerala is pathetic when it comes to women’s rights.
Are you sure the charges on him is not proven? Then on what police arrest him?
I like Dileep and his movies. I like also the actress whom he seemed to have assaulted. I want both to be on the screens again.I am not interested in the happenings behind the backdrops.
Mohanlal should resign.
Dileep should be punished severely,the crime he did.If any one do the same to his wife ,how would they react?
He was holding a prominent role in Malayalam film industry. With this incident his career and even the industry itself went to a set back.