‘What I said was my own perspective’: Parvathy reacts to 'Kasaba' controversy, Geetu Mohandas and ‘Toxic’

Actor Parvathy Thiruvothu, who is all set to play a pivotal role in Shahad Nilambur's 'Pradhama Drishtya Kuttakkar,' has said she has never regretted or felt the need to correct the remarks she previously made about 'Kasaba,' despite the controversy her words triggered. She maintained that her opinion about the film remains unchanged even today.

“There have been setbacks, but I have never felt the need to change any of the positions I have taken. Even today, if I am asked about the film, my opinion remains the same,” Parvathy said in her interview with Manorama News. The actor had criticised a dialogue delivered by Mammootty’s character in the film directed at a fellow female police officer.

The actor added that the views she expresses are rooted in her personal values and need not necessarily be accepted by everyone. “The views I express are in keeping with my values. It doesn't always have to be accepted or approved by everyone. I have also stopped believing that people will always understand us. There are people who like me and people who hate me. That's all,” she said.

Parvathy also addressed comparisons between her Kasaba remarks and director Geetu Mohandas’ film 'Toxic.' Geetu had been with Parvathy when she made the controversial comments and had encouraged her to speak her mind. Clarifying that her views were entirely her own, Parvathy said Geetu had never endorsed them.

“What I said was my own perspective. Geetu never endorsed it or anything. She is free to make whatever film she wants. Just because I sat next to Geetu and expressed my views doesn't mean we have an understanding that every film she makes should reflect what I said,” she said.

Parvathy also criticised the tendency to pit women against each other, saying that trying to connect her earlier comments with Geetu’s filmmaking comes from the “old mindset” that “a woman is a woman's worst enemy.”

On whether the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA) could ever take a feminist position, Parvathy was categorical in her response. “No. That's precisely why I left A.M.M.A. When women take charge of an organisation, it is unfair to compare them with those who ran it for 25 years, pass judgment on them and expect them to deliver perfection immediately,” she said.

‘There are power groups that believed they are indispensable’
The actor also spoke about how women are portrayed as villains when they stand up for the truth. "Whenever we raise our voices for something good or stand up for what we believe is right, there is a tendency to portray us as the villains. And it is especially easy to push women into that space because we have been conditioned to doubt ourselves and are constantly gaslighted.

Even within our families, we have seen this. Our mothers would often not say that they were unwell or needed help. We have grown up in a society that has thrived on a person’s silence and willingness to endure. That is how the system has functioned for years.

There are power groups that have operated within this system, believing that they are indispensable. But nobody is indispensable—not me, not them. The only thing that survives is the art itself. People come and go, but only art continues to survive. It was very interesting for me to sit in the gallery, watch everything unfold in the front row and see that,” she said.