At a time when she is running for the top post of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (A.M.M.A), noted actress Shweta Menon finds herself in the middle of a storm. This is due to an FIR filed against her for allegedly promoting obscene content on social media and porn websites. Many claim that the complaint, filed by a man named Martin Menacherry, is part of a larger conspiracy to stall the 51-year-old artist's journey to the presidency of the organisation, which has been traditionally lobbied and held by influential men in Mollywood.
Meanwhile, Martin Menacherry told a television channel on Wednesday that he decided to contact the authorities after he noticed two minors watching obscene content involving Shweta Menon near the Kerala High Court. After a search for the diva's name brought up numerous porn website links, he filed a complaint with the Ernakulam Central Police on March 3. When they did not take action, he went to the Ernakulam Chief Judicial Magistrate court. The court has since found a prima facie substance to the complaint, he said.
Menacherry said that some content from films featuring Shweta Menon was used on porn sites. He told a news channel that scenes from Malayalam cinema, such as Kalimannu and Paleri Manikyam: Oru Pathirakolapathakathinte Katha, that were cut by the censor board were available on porn sites "in a different way."
"If somebody searches for 'Shwetha Menon hottest videos' [on Google], you will get so many porn links," the man claimed.
When the show's anchor asked how the actress could be held responsible for an unknown person finding the time to isolate random scenes from her movies to be uploaded on porn websites, Menacherry said it was for her to say whether she was responsible for the propagation or not. He added that she had accepted in the past that she was aware of her movie scenes and advertisements being streamed on porn sites.
"In 1999, Menon had told a daily published from Kozhikode in an interview that she was a 'hot' woman and 'if she is financially rewarded, she doesn't mind doing sex videos'," he said. At this point, the anchor protested that sex and mainstream cinema are entirely different and the feature films mentioned in his complaint were all certified by the censor board and screened publicly. Menacherry did not counter the argument directly and went on to claim that during an interview he had submitted before the court, Shweta had claimed that around 30 crore people had seen her KamaSutra condom advertisement. She did give a statement during an interview that her videos are available on porn sites, he added.
Throughout the programme, the complainant failed to answer logical questions raised by other panellists and the anchor.
A bizarre FIR that raised many eyebrows
The FIR claims that Shweta Menon went nude in these films and ads with the alleged intention of making financial gains, and these scenes were promoted on social media and adult websites for profit.
Menacherry alleged that Shweta was also involved in the distribution of porn content through adult sites, citing that she had acted 'intimately' in films like Paleri Manikyam: Oru Pathirakolapathakathinte Katha, Rathinirvedam and Kalimannu, as well as a KamaSutra advertisement.
A.M.M.A elections are scheduled to be held on August 15. Earlier, actor Baburaj was forced to withdraw from running for the general secretary post as he was facing a sexual harassment case. Kukku Parameswaran and Raveendran are the key candidates contesting for the post.
Meanwhile, Malayalam actor Devan, who is contesting against Menon for the post, threw his weight behind the female star. "When you examine the FIR details, you know how stupid the case is," he said.
He also questioned why only Menon was singled out and the complaint did not name other actors or producers. "If it were a big crime, the complaint should not have been filed only against Shwetha Menon. A case should have been registered against the other actors and crew members of the film," the actor stated.
