The shooting of Padavettu, the upcoming Malayalam film starring Aditi Balan, Nivin Pauly and Manju Warrier, has been wrapped up. The film’s director Liju Krishna was earlier arrested for allegedly raping a woman.
In a video circulating on social media, the film’s producer Sunny Wayne is seen announcing “pack up” from the shooting location in Kannur. Moreover, many of those associated with the film, including the production manager, also shared on social media that the shooting was completed.
Padavettu is produced by the Sunny Wayne Productions in association with Yoodlee Films.
It was meant to mark the film debut of director Krishna, who had previously written and directed a play titled Moment Just Before Death, which was also produced by Sunny Wayne. However, the director was arrested on March 6 by the Kakkanad Infopark police, from the shoot location of Padavettu at his hometown Kannur.
In an earlier conversation with Silverscreen India, a police officer from the Kakkanad Infopark station confirmed Krishna’s arrest and added that the case was registered based on a complaint filed by a young woman, who had worked with him on the upcoming film.
The survivor said, via an anonymous Facebook post through a page named Women Against Sexual Harassment, that Krishna had raped her in 2020. She further mentioned that there was no official grievance redressal cell on set to complain about the prolonged abuse he had subjected her to.
“Liju Krishna had enslaved me to such an extent that I couldn’t come out of the toxic relationship,” she said, adding that she had later sought the help of a psychiatrist to deal with the trauma.
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In the wake of the rape allegation and Krishna’s arrest, Women in Cinema Collective (WCC), an organisation of women working in the Malayalam film industry, demanded the suspension of the accused’s membership from all film bodies and asked that he be barred from working in the Malayalam film industry, until a verdict was out in the case. The WCC also reiterated the need for the immediate implementation of the PoSH Act in Malayalam film productions and a zero-tolerance policy towards sexual harassment and abuse across the industry.
Following the arrest of Krishna, Padavettu’s filming was temporarily halted. However, the film appears to have been completed without the director.