Ranjith Malayalam director Ranjith quits Kerala Film Academy after Bengali actress Sreelekha Mitra trades misconduct charges against him
Thiruvananthapuram/IBNS: Malayalam director Ranjith has resigned as the chairman of Kerala Chalachitra Academy over the charges of misconduct levelled against him by Bengali actress Sreelekha Mitra, media reports said.
Ranjith has communicated his decision to step down to state Cultural Affairs Minister Saji Cherian.
Sreelekha Mitra, who is now at the forefront of RG Kar protests in Kolkata, alleged that Ranjith had misbehaved with her at his residence in 2009.
Sreelekha had reportedly gone there to discuss a project.
The actress claimed she felt uncomfortable by "subtle advances" by Ranjith.
The allegations brought political colours with the state's opposition Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party as well as the ruling coalition partner CPI demanding Ranjith's resignation.
Cherian on Saturday had defended director Ranjith.
Reacting to Sreelekha's allegations, documentary filmmaker Joshy Joseph claimed the actress dropped her plans to work on more Malayalam films due to Ranjith's behaviour.
"She is a wonderful actor. At that time, she was a popular name in Bengali film circles. She had plans to do more Malayalam films, but dropped it due to Ranjith’s misbehaviour.
"Her collaboration would have added creative value to Malayalam cinema...," Joseph said as quoted by onmanorama.
Support Our Journalism
We cannot do without you.. your contribution supports unbiased journalism
IBNS is not driven by any ism- not wokeism, not racism, not skewed secularism, not hyper right-wing or left liberal ideals, nor by any hardline religious beliefs or hyper nationalism. We want to serve you good old objective news, as they are. We do not judge or preach. We let people decide for themselves. We only try to present factual and well-sourced news.
