Kuttan, a retired police officer and widower with obsessive-compulsive disorder, resents his sister Bharati for leaving their Brahmin family to marry a Dalit theatre artiste. Unable to accept that his sister was pregnant with a Dalit man’s child, he kills the couple.
Years later, he is battling the ghosts of his past. Such is his controlling nature that he forces his son to brush his teeth the same way he does. Kuttan naturally becomes his son’s trauma.
Malayalam actor Mammootty — Kerala’s “megastar” — played Kuttan in the 2022 film Puzhu (worm). The movie and the actor are under fire now, particularly in right-wing circles. They allege that the film is anti-Brahmanical and portrays the upper caste community negatively.
The online trolls trained their guns on Mammootty’s Muslim identity, as well as that of the film’s co-writer Harshad. Comments on social media have been using words like “cinema jihad” and accusing the actor of being an agent of the banned Popular Front of India (PFI).
It all started with an interview with director Ratheena P T’s estranged partner, Sharshad Baniyandy, on a YouTube channel, in which he alleges that the film was made with the intention to malign the upper caste community. In the interview, Sharshad also says, “…don’t know why Mammookka (as Mammootty is popularly addressed) agreed to do such a negative film”.
People wasted no time in attacking the actor, using his birth name, Mohammed Kutty (also a common Muslim name in Kerala), to draw attention to his faith. Ratheena and Sharshad also belong to the Muslim community. Those who triggered and are partaking in the trolling of Mammootty, Harshad and Ratheena, call Sharshad a good human being. One of them wonders, “Are there such gems among Muslims also?”
If critics on social media feel strongly about the portrayal of the protagonist and by extension, upper caste people, then Bharati — played by Parvathy Thiruvothu — should be exalted as the one who upholds progressive views in the community.
Mammootty’s career over five decades speaks for itself. His work speaks of his attention to detail and transcends religion, social status and professions. One wonders whether the self-proclaimed guardians of Hindutva attacking him now admired his characters such as Sethurama Iyer of Oru CBI Diary Kurippu (1988), Chandu Chekavar of Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha (1989), Soorya Narayana Iyer of Iyer the Great (1990), Narasimha Mannadiyar of Dhruvam (1993) or Pazhassi Raja of Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja (2009), for being more Hindu than any Hindu.
Who could have spared a thought for Mammootty’s faith when watching him play Louis in Kathodu Kathoram (1985), Ravi Varma in Nirakkoottu (1985), Dr Vinayachandran in Manivathoorile Aayiram Sivarathrikal (1987), Balan Mash in Thaniyavarthanam (1987), Vaikom Muhammad Basheer in Mathilukal (1990), Chandradas in Patheyam (1993), Mada in Ponthan Mada (1994), Madhavan in Kaazhcha (2004), Dr S R Nathan in Ore Kadal (2007) or James in Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam (2022)?
But this is not the first time that religious intolerance has reared its head in “progressive” Kerala. In 2018, when the novel Meesha (Moustache) by S Hareesh was being serialised in Mathrubhumi weekly, right-wing groups cited a passage to say it ridiculed Hinduism. The writer had to withdraw the series and publish his work as a book, instead.
Another Mammootty-starrer, Bheeshma Parvam in 2022 and Antony in 2023, landed in hot water over allegations of “hurting Christian sentiments”.
In a state hailed as secular, where temples, churches and mosques share boundary walls, intolerance towards creative work that similarly blurs distinctions is laughable.
Kerala’s cultural pride, built on secular, liberal values, avant-garde movies and exceptional actors, should not be demolished by narrow political agendas. Mammootty is undoubtedly one of the pillars holding up this pride.
yamini.nair@expressindia.com
