Manju Warrier, who was last seen in Vetri Maaran‘s Asuran on Tuesday morning, filed a complaint against Odiyan director VA Shrikumar Menon and former journalist Mathew Samuel with the Deputy General of Police Loknath Behera in Kochi. In her complaint, she alleges that Menon and Samuel were behind the online attacks against her after the release of Odiyan. She has also mentioned in her complaint that the duo was threatening and defaming her, and misusing signed blank cheques of her charity foundation.
Menon was the director of the Kalyan Jewellers brand commercial through which Manju returned to acting after a gap of 16 years in 2012. They have collaborated in several advertisement films before Odiyan. The film, a mega-budget period drama with Mohanlal playing the protagonist, was a box-office disaster. He had alleged post the release of the film that a paid gang was behind the online attacks against him and the box-office debacle of the film. He had said that he was being targeted for standing by Manju Warrier. “As she was my client and friend, I have always thought how to position Manju as a brand and to build her brand. A talent like Manju’s happens to an industry once in many decades. We only positioned her as a brand. I knew clearly that there are a group of people who did not want Manju Warrier to ever become successful and they would target me if I helped her. I am also ready to face the ripple effect of that decision or be crucified repeatedly for it,” he had said in December 2018.
Manju’s former husband actor Dileep is a chief accused in a sexual harassment case filed by a young actress in 2017. According to a Newsminute report, in a bail application filed in August 2017, Dileep had alleged that the whole case was a ploy by Shrikumar Menon and Manju.
Mathew Samuel, the former editor of Tehelka magazine, is a close friend of Menon’s. In a note posted on Facebook on Tuesday in response to Manju, Menon said that he would cooperate with the investigation against him.
