The 'filmy' Khaps from Karnataka

By Padmalatha Ravi on Monday, September 12, 2011 - 15:41

You beat up your wife, ruin the career of another female actor – and get to play the victim. The real-life script of Kannada actor Darshan, handled by the films producers leaves you speechless by its utter chauvinism and hypocrisy. Padmalatha Ravi writes about the new Khaps of Karnataka who are now protecting marriages, ruining careers and saving its “heroes”.

It had all the classic scenes of a typical domestic violence scene. Beat up wife, police case, arrest of the husband, withdrawal of the case by the wife, even an alleged affair by the husband. But what makes it curious is the involvement of Kannada Film Producers’ Association (KFPA)

On Friday (9 Sep, 2011) media attention was grabbed by lead Kannada actor Darshan Toogudeepa’s arrest for beating up his wife Vijayalakshmi the previous evening. Reports said the wife had serious head injuries. But by Saturday, the wife had withdrawn the case against him. The actor was admitted to a hospital with symptoms of jaundice and asthma.

Prominent producers trooped in to check on him at the hospital. Over the weekend, the producers’ association brewed a yet another mindless script. They banned female actor Nikitha Thukral from the Kannada film industry for three years for creating ‘disharmony’ in Darshan’s marital life.

No action was taken against Darshan for turning violent with his wife.

How and why did a commercial forum like KFPA usurp the moral police status? Nikhita Thukral gets penalised for what looks like a consensual relationship, while the man is mollycoddled, and protected. Nikitha has rued to the media that this is going to scar her, both personally and professionally. No doubt Darshan will continue to bash up villains and woo the heroines on screen, and in all probability reunite with his wife too.

Actor’s wife, Vijaylakshmi, went to meet him at the hospital, with a broken arm (earlier she was in the ICU) and yet the police are citing lack of evidence. Of course now that she has dropped the charges there isn’t much to be done.

The actor’s fans on the other hand went on a rampage, outside the police station demanding his release. The hero of the masses cannot be arrested over a trivial case of wife beating. That is not how the script works!

This isn’t the first time KFPA has sought to ban a female actor. In March this year they banned lead actor Ramya for a year. Her fault was that she went public about the loan payments due to her from a producer, A Ganesh. The furious actor had announced she’d retire from the industry.

Clearly the bunch that produces the most testosterone filled films for the masses is determined to maintain status quo off screen too. A hero with some spine and scripts with a reformist act is clearly only for the box office, a dud at that.