Substance abuse in Malayalam film industry an issue: Kerala Culture Minister

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Culture Minister Saji Cheriyan said on Wednesday that the state government viewed the allegations of substance abuse in the Malayalam film industry seriously.

The minister's remarks come in the backdrop of film industry associations refusing to work with two actors, Sreenath Bhasi and Shane Nigam, who allegedly misbehaved on film sets under the influence of drugs.

Talking to reporters here, the minister said no official complaint about drug abuse had been received so far from any of the film organisations.

Noting that there were many women working in the film industry and there would be no compromise on ensuring their security, he said stringent action would be taken on the issue of substance abuse if film organisations lodged formal complaints about such instances.

He said the issue of substance abuse on the sets was raised by some organisations during his meeting with them four days ago.

Cheriyan also supported the film industry associations' decision not to do films with actors Bhasi and Nigam.

A day after various actors' and producers' associations in the Malayalam film industry took the decision against both Bhasi and Nigam, saying their actions were causing problems for producers and other artists working with the two actors, the minister said those who had done wrong should correct their mistakes and become active in the film industry once more.

While announcing the decision of various film industry associations against Nigam and Bhasi, leader of Kerala Film Producers Association (KFPA) M Renjith had on Tuesday said that while there were many in the film industry who were addicted to drugs, the use of such substances was not the reason for taking the present action against the two actors.

"Their actions are causing problems to the producers and other artists," he had contended.

"There was use of drugs even in the past, but it happened behind closed doors in private," the well-known producer had said. "But now it is happening openly. If such persons under the influence of drugs do anything untoward, it's the associations which would be blamed and are (being) blamed." He had also pointed out that the prevalence of drug use was more common among the new entrants into the film industry. The producer also said the names of those consuming drugs would be forwarded to the government.