The Justice K Hema Committee report that probed the sexual exploitation of women in the Kerala film industry was released to the public two years ago – it states that a criminal mafia comprising actors, directors and producers dominates the film sector in Kerala. On September 14, 2026, filmmaker Sanal Kumar Sasidharan started a hunger strike in front of the state secretariat in Thiruvananthapuram, demanding a probe into the findings of the Hema Committee Report.
He ended his fast on September 22, about 10 kg lighter, when he was forcibly lifted from the protest site by police. He swears his fight for justice will continue, and that he will continue to demand a proper probe into the findings of the Hema Committee Report.
Sasidharan is no ordinary filmmaker – he has won state awards, including Best Director for his 2014 debut film Oraalppokkam which featured poet Meena Kandasamy. His films have travelled internationally and won awards in festivals abroad.
Sasidharan is no ordinary filmmaker – he has won state awards, including Best Director for his 2014 debut film Oraalppokkam which featured poet Meena Kandasamy. His films have travelled internationally and won awards in festivals abroad.
It is noteworthy that his filmmaking is self-taught and experimental – he studied zoology in college, and finished a degree in law before plunging into filmmaking. In an interview with this reporter, he said that he had been attempting to put together a platform that would promote films that were not part of mainstream cinema.
He started Kazhcha Film Forum (Kazhcha means “a sight to see” in Malayalam), which produced crowd-funded films; Kazhcha Independent Film Festival showcased artistic and indie films that would not easily find space in regular film festivals; and Cinema Vandi (Vandi is “vehicle” in Malayalam), an alternative film distribution network. These were steadily gaining an audience, and finding willing donors.
Sasidharan told me that success was short-lived – the whole thing unraveled when he found murky dealings in the offices of the establishment that he had set up. There were reports of sex in the office premises with underage girls. Those travelling to the city from elsewhere would stay at the premises, and there was also a caretaker who lived there. Sasidharan said he was shocked to recognize a bedsheet from his premises in a photograph depicting the body of transgender woman Shalu discovered in Kozhikode in 2019. He took his suspicions to police, but nothing came of his efforts.
Sasidharan did not fully understand it at the time, but he suspects that he might have been the victim of a conspiracy to put an end to his filmmaking – he had become moderately successful commercially, and his efforts spawned a new breed of filmmakers.
It is pertinent to note that Sasidharan had been in a romantic relationship with actress Manju Warrier, among the first to openly claim the existence of a sex racket that the Hema Committee unearthed. Yet, says Sasidharan in a note he released to the press on September 25, Warrier has since been silent, and has even claimed that she has no knowledge of the mafia. Warrier has also worked with Sasidharan on one film.
Sasidharan holds that Warrier’s recent silence is explicable when one sees the power of the mafia that controls the film world. In recorded phone conversations with the actress that he has released on the internet, Warrier is heard pleading with him for the sake of her motherhood – she is mother to a 26-year-old, with whom she has lost touch since her divorce from actor Dileep in 2014.
Sasidharan has claimed that he shared those conversations since he perceived a threat to his own life, and the existence of a dark underbelly to the film industry that needed to be exposed. In September 2025, Sanal Kumar Sasidharan was detained by Mumbai Police when he returned to India from the US – police were acting on a complaint of harassment from Manju Warrier.
In recorded conversations that he released on the internet, Warrier can be heard claiming that she knew nothing about the complaint – it was as if someone else filed it on her behalf.
In video interviews that he gave to small news outlets that would interview him – the mainstream media ignored his hunger strike and protest – Sanal Sasidharan has said Manju Warrier lived in great fear, and would mask even her own voice when she spoke with him on the phone. He has described how the conversation would halt abruptly at the rustle of leaves, as if the slightest sound inspired dread.
While sitting in protest outside the secretariat, Sanal Sasidharan said he met ordinary people who were concerned and seemed to understand – they told him that he must fight for what he thinks is right, and would sometimes ask if he needed them to wash his soiled clothes and bring them back dried and fresh.
Filmmaking has taken a back seat since life itself has become quite a feature film. There is now an injunction order restricting Meta from carrying content that Sasidharan creates that allegedly “defames” the actress.
Although the filmmaker demands that a probe be instituted into the findings of the Hema Committee Report, it appears that a probe might also be necessary into whether a deliberate plot to derail alternative filmmaking, and the possible emergence of a different infrastructure for viewing films, was afoot.
And just in case someone reading this from outside Kerala does not already know – Dileep, former husband of Manju Warrier, was in December 2025 acquitted by the Ernakulam sessions court of the charge of conspiring in the kidnap and rape of a popular actress in 2017.
He started Kazhcha Film Forum (Kazhcha means “a sight to see” in Malayalam), which produced crowd-funded films; Kazhcha Independent Film Festival showcased artistic and indie films that would not easily find space in regular film festivals; and Cinema Vandi (Vandi is “vehicle” in Malayalam), an alternative film distribution network. These were steadily gaining an audience, and finding willing donors.
Sasidharan told me that success was short-lived – the whole thing unraveled when he found murky dealings in the offices of the establishment that he had set up. There were reports of sex in the office premises with underage girls. Those travelling to the city from elsewhere would stay at the premises, and there was also a caretaker who lived there. Sasidharan said he was shocked to recognize a bedsheet from his premises in a photograph depicting the body of transgender woman Shalu discovered in Kozhikode in 2019. He took his suspicions to police, but nothing came of his efforts.
Sasidharan did not fully understand it at the time, but he suspects that he might have been the victim of a conspiracy to put an end to his filmmaking – he had become moderately successful commercially, and his efforts spawned a new breed of filmmakers.
It is pertinent to note that Sasidharan had been in a romantic relationship with actress Manju Warrier, among the first to openly claim the existence of a sex racket that the Hema Committee unearthed. Yet, says Sasidharan in a note he released to the press on September 25, Warrier has since been silent, and has even claimed that she has no knowledge of the mafia. Warrier has also worked with Sasidharan on one film.
Sasidharan holds that Warrier’s recent silence is explicable when one sees the power of the mafia that controls the film world. In recorded phone conversations with the actress that he has released on the internet, Warrier is heard pleading with him for the sake of her motherhood – she is mother to a 26-year-old, with whom she has lost touch since her divorce from actor Dileep in 2014.
Sasidharan has claimed that he shared those conversations since he perceived a threat to his own life, and the existence of a dark underbelly to the film industry that needed to be exposed. In September 2025, Sanal Kumar Sasidharan was detained by Mumbai Police when he returned to India from the US – police were acting on a complaint of harassment from Manju Warrier.
In recorded conversations that he released on the internet, Warrier can be heard claiming that she knew nothing about the complaint – it was as if someone else filed it on her behalf.
In video interviews that he gave to small news outlets that would interview him – the mainstream media ignored his hunger strike and protest – Sanal Sasidharan has said Manju Warrier lived in great fear, and would mask even her own voice when she spoke with him on the phone. He has described how the conversation would halt abruptly at the rustle of leaves, as if the slightest sound inspired dread.
While sitting in protest outside the secretariat, Sanal Sasidharan said he met ordinary people who were concerned and seemed to understand – they told him that he must fight for what he thinks is right, and would sometimes ask if he needed them to wash his soiled clothes and bring them back dried and fresh.
Filmmaking has taken a back seat since life itself has become quite a feature film. There is now an injunction order restricting Meta from carrying content that Sasidharan creates that allegedly “defames” the actress.
Although the filmmaker demands that a probe be instituted into the findings of the Hema Committee Report, it appears that a probe might also be necessary into whether a deliberate plot to derail alternative filmmaking, and the possible emergence of a different infrastructure for viewing films, was afoot.
And just in case someone reading this from outside Kerala does not already know – Dileep, former husband of Manju Warrier, was in December 2025 acquitted by the Ernakulam sessions court of the charge of conspiring in the kidnap and rape of a popular actress in 2017.
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*Independent journalist
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