Malayali Film Actor Dileep Is Having A Troubled Times With Accusations

By Harihar Swarup

In February 19, 2017, at a meeting in Kochi’s Durbar Hall grounds, some of Kerala cinema’s biggest names gathered to protest the abduction and sexual assault of a woman actor. Among those present that day were superstars Mammootty and Dileep Singh, high profile directors –Kammal and Lal and many others.

With Dileep watching, his ex-wife Manju Warrier, often hailed as Kerala cinema’s “only woman superstar”, spoke expressing her solidarity with the victim, her friends. “It’s very difficult to express through words what I feel. I met her after I heard about the incident. I am proud of her as she is fighting back.” Manju said before going on to allege a conspiracy. “Whosoever is behind this criminal conspiracy should be brought to light,” she said. The same day, the victim filed a complaint.

Five months later, Dileep was arrested in the case, accused of having got Pulsar Suni, a history sheeter, known to be close to many in the film industry, to molest the actor in a moving car and record the act. While conspiracy theories abound in Kerala’s deeply partisan film industry, the motive, according to the prosecution, was revenge with Dileep allegedly holding the victim responsible for wrecking his marriage with Manju. After 85 days in Aluva jail, Dileep walked out on bail.

Now, four years later, as the trail in the assault case enters its final stretch, Dileep, 54, has landed in fresh trouble.

On December 25, after Balachandra Kumar, a film director and Dileep’s estranged friend, submitted, audio clips, in which voices, including ostensibly of Dileep, are heard discussing a plan to cause physical harm to the investing officer in the case, police filed a fresh FIR against him and raided the actor’s home. The team also raided  the home of Dileep’s brother Anoop and the office of their production company.

ADGP (crime branch) S. Sreejith said the raids were held with the permission of court . “Details cannot be revealed as the matter is still in early stages of investigation”, he said.

In a film industry dominated by its ageless superstars,  Mammootty’s and Mohan Lal , Dileep’s biggest achievement was that he was more than held his own– churning out of a series of hits which helped won him a state award.

With neither Mammootty’s simmering looks nor Mohanlal’s screen presence pushed the envelope with his guy—next—doors act, many of which, like Kunjikoonan in which he plays a man with fluid masculinity, were runaway hits. He even went to start his production house, Graand Production.

But Dileep didn’t start off as Dileep. Son of Padmanabhan Pillai and Sarojam from Aluva, he was Gopalakrishnan Padmanabhan, a mimicry artist at Kalabhavan, a centre of performing arts in Kochi that he served as a nursery for several Malayam actors and film makers.

By the late 1980s, Gopalakrishnan and his team including Nadirshah, his friend, who also joined the film industry — were house names, having featured in Asianet’s comedy series. But it was his act mimicking Suresh Gopi — actor and now a BJP Rajya Sabha member from Kerala—that made him a household sensation. (IPA Service)

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