JUDGEMENT DAY

So, the courts in Kerala have acquitted Dileep. Yay for the naysayers. A tragic day for those who believed justice would prevail.

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Ever since an actor was abducted and sexually assaulted eight years ago, everything in Kerala changed. Lines were drawn. Sides were taken. Witnesses turned hostile. Rapists roamed free and predators had the last laugh. Or so it seemed.

But wait a minute, things have changed. Every predator now looks over his shoulder. The Malayalam film industry has been shaken to its core. The self-appointed patriarchs and moral gatekeepers have the jitters. A women's collective came together and offered something deceptively simple: a demand for dignity for women. Apparently, that is a tall order in the Malayalam film industry, or anywhere else, for that matter.