If you thought Salman Khan equating the effect Sultan’s grueling training regimen with sexual assault was terrible, you had better avoid Kollywood director Mysskin’s recent comments about Mammootty. Because it will make you seethe in rage.
The Tamil director, who is known for ‘dark, issue-based films’, had this to say about lead actor Mammootty’s performance in their upcoming film Peranbu, “You can keep watching Mammootty sir throughout this film. If he had been younger and he had been a woman, I might have fallen in love with him. Had I been a girl, I’d have raped him actually. Such a fabulous acting.”
What was even more unnerving than the tone-deaf statement, was the laughter that erupted among the audience after Mysskin’s ‘throwaway joke’. He later went on to ‘joke’ some more, that he wished that his film would become a hit after a controversial statements. Using sexual assault as a means to grab headlines is about as misguided as it gets. Rape as a compliment? Rape as an award for how ‘talented’ someone is? Rape as a higher mode of admiration than love? Way to not just normalise rape culture, but also celebrate it.
The statement was met with shock on Twitter, thanks to the director’s choice of interchangeable use of the words ‘love’ and ‘rape’. As it is popular cinema in the country holds the mantle for depicting ‘stalking’ as a form of ‘love’. And then for a director to reinforce the image of ‘love’ and ‘forced love’ being the same thing… is disturbing to say the least.
This is the kind of anti-culture the Dravidians have mainstreamed : Mysskin goes on to say, “You can keep watching Mammootty sir . If he had been younger and he had been a woman, I might have fallen in love with him. Had I been a girl, I’d have raped him actually..”
— Reality Check India (@realitycheckind) July 17, 2018
This is the kind of men who make films that turn out to be runaway hits even though the substance is utter filth and misogynistic gore.
Apparently, he’d rape someone to proclaim his love for them. And get this, the audience was in splits!#mysskinhttps://t.co/CG4z5l3TVi— Vaishnavi (@Vaishax) July 16, 2018
Ffs.. You dont rape a person if you like/love them.. And audience when are you gonna be human enough and stop applauding for such misogynistic crap?? https://t.co/5eNz4o657E #Peranbu
— Wanderlust (@whimsydaisy) July 17, 2018
What a piece of shit! And of course, I don’t expect the directors’ union or any body to speak out against him. Sick bastard!https://t.co/o5QY7aPMOj
— Vijay Venkataramanan (@7th_Samurai) July 17, 2018
When a colleague actor was actually raped, Mammootty kept mum. And what kind of reaction are we going to expect from this man, when a verbal rape-praise from Tamil director Mysskin.
— Abhijith VM (@abhyvm) July 17, 2018
Watched the press meet video of Mysskin just casually saying: “Had I been a girl, I’ve would raped him (Mammootty).” He meant it as a compliment. Coming from someone who’s been regarded as an intellectual in Tamil cinema.
Fuck this world, man. We’re beyond help.
— No (@sanjana_c28) July 17, 2018
We live in desperate times, sure, but surely not this much. There are better ways to promote a film.
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