A lot has changed in the Malayalam cinema landscape since actor Parvathy criticised the Mammootty movie Kasaba for misogyny and glorifying derogatory dialogues against women. In an open forum at the International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) 2017, Parvathy stated that an influential actor like Mammootty shouldn’t have acted in such a movie.
Following her statement, Parvathy has to face cyber bullying and social media harassment from self-proclaimed Mammootty fans and anonymous social media accounts. Mammootty remained silent during the whole incident. However, many filmmakers including Renji Panicker apologised for writing misogynistic scripts in the past and actors like Prithviraj Sukumaran has openly stated that he won’t be acting in movies that glorify toxic masculinity. Parvathy didn’t stop there. The state award winning actress along with Rima Kallingal, Padmapriya, Remya Nambeeshan and few others pioneered in propagating the need for gender equality and safety for women in the film industry. They formed a collective named Women in Cinema Collective following the actress assault case.
With the news of Parvathy and Mammootty collaborating for the first time for a movie titled ‘Puzhu’, to be directed by debutant Ratheena Sharshad , speculations and expectations are high. Parvathy has already said in an interview that collaborating with Mammootty for this movie will be a huge statement considering their history. She has also said that the movie goes in line with her views on gender politics.
The first teaser of the movie shows Mammootty talking to a child about being a good human. The last part of the teaser shows the child shooting an arrow towards the photo of Mammootty’s character. The teaser doesn’t feature Parvathy. The mood of the trailer hints at an intense family drama. The movie’s story is written by Harshad who is the writer of Mammootty’s critically acclaimed movie ‘Unda’. Puzhu is jointly scripted by Harshad, Suhas and Sharaf. Athmeeya, late actor Nedumudi Venu, Indrans and Malavika Menon reportedly play important characters in the movie. Theni Eashwer helms the camera for Puzhu.
The movie is produced by S George under the banner Cyn Cyl Celluloid. The movie will be co-produced and distributed by Dulquer Salmaan’s Wayfarer Films.