Violence in cinema was identified by the Kerala Assembly as one of the factors that were instigating barbaric musings in Kerala's youth. During a discussion on the recent violent incidents in Kerala in the Assembly on March 3, many speakers, including Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, spoke of the baleful influence of films on society.

There was no chicken-egg conundrum here; was it the dark deeds of the society that was mirrored in cinema or vice versa? There was consensus that films were indeed complicit. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that he was in possession of a police report that showed how the Fahadh Faasil-starrer 'Aavesham' had a dangerous influence on kids. It was not the Chief Minister who revealed the name. In fact, he found it hard to recall the title of the film. He did drop hints, though.

"Eda mone' is how this guy calls the boys. This man is a rowdy," the CM said with a playful smile about Fahadh's Ranga character in 'Aavesham'. Speaker A N Shamseer could be heard saying, helpfully, 'Ambane' and 'Aavesham. ' The CM kept smiling.

"I had seen a police report that said that some boys here (in Kerala) had gone after some gang leaders after watching this film," the CM said. Someone from the opposition wanted to know whether he had seen the film. "It is not about me watching or not watching the film. Such a situation exists," he said, seemingly enjoying the moment. "But this film, I happened to see," he said.

"The bad effects of films and serials are huge. Violence is being celebrated. This should be examined," he said, and added sarcastically: "Such a scrutiny has to be carried out by the Censor Board. I don't know what these people are doing."

Later, Congress's Angamaly MLA Roji M John, too, spoke of the Censor Board's slumber. "When we watch certain films, we wonder how these films got the nod of the Censor Board," he said.

The Chief Minister said that a stage had reached where we had no choice but to give violence in cinema a serious look. "In films, the person who kills the most is the hero," he said. He felt that such a projection has rubbed off on the younger generation. "They seem to be under the impression that there is greatness in vanquishing, crushing, others," he said.

M K Muneer, under whose Koduvally constituency fell Thamarassery, wanted to know what prompted a boy to break the skull of a friend using a 'nunchuk'. "Shouldn't we try to know who is behind this," the MLA said. He said the boys were sending self-congratulatory messages on Instagram after the deed was done.

"You know what is the profile picture on the Instagram of these boys? It is that of Young-hee the doll, a character in the violent South Korean web series 'Squid Game'," Muneer said.

Giving examples from closer home, he said an ad slogan of one of the pictures was 'Welcome to the hell of violence". Another lured audiences promising the worst violence India has ever seen. The same examples were cited by excise minister M B Rajesh the other day. "Where are these films leading us to," Muneer said.

CPM's young Thiruvambady MLA Linto Joseph also spoke about the ghastly images peddled by modern Malayalam films. "There is a clip in which a little child is pulverised by a gas cylinder. (This was a scene deleted from the hyper violent Unni Mukundan-starrer 'Marco') The new trend is to spread such images of shocking grotesque violence," he said, and added: "Why is the Censor Board not identifying such scenes and taking it out. We should seriously deal with such attempts (in films) to intensify such criminal tendencies in people."