Up to date on: Nov 05, 2025 03:35 pm IST
The Kerala State Movie Awards have been introduced on Monday night. There was backlash since then, together with from Deedi Damodaran.
Filmmaker-screenwriter and founding member of Ladies in Cinema Collective (WCC), Deedi Damodaran took to her Fb account on Wednesday to slam the jury of the Kerala State Movie Awards. She referred to as them out for giving the Finest Lyricist award to Hirandas Murali, higher generally known as rapper Vedan, who was accused in a rape case earlier this 12 months. She additionally said that the jury owed the ladies of Kerala an apology. (Additionally Learn: Little one actor Deva Nandha slams Prakash Raj after he snubs youngsters’s classes at Kerala State Movie Awards)
Deedi Damodaran slams state awards jury over platforming Vedan
Vedan was given the Finest Lyricist award for penning the lyrics of the music Kuthanthram from the 2024 hit Manjummel Boys. The winners of this 12 months’s awards have been determined by a jury headed by Prakash Raj. In her Fb put up, Deedi said that the traces by Vedan, “viyarppu thunnititta kuppayam” (the shirt stitched with sweat), have been “magnificent”, however the award was“stained by blood” from the injuries of the victims. She additionally wrote that no music can erase or conceal that.
Deedi additional wrote, “The jury’s choice quantities to a breach of belief in opposition to the federal government’s coverage declarations on the current movie conclave that those that exploit girls won’t be protected,” including, “Even when this choice can’t be reversed by means of authorized means, the movie jury owes an apology to the ladies of Kerala for etching such a verdict into the historical past of cinema.” The screenwriter made her put up after Vedan celebrated his win on Instagram by writing the precise lyrics she identified.
Sexual assault allegations in opposition to Vedan
In 2021, Vedan was accused of alleged sexual misconduct throughout the MeToo motion. Nonetheless, no formal complaints have been filed. In July this 12 months, a rape case was filed in opposition to Vedan on the Thrikkakara police station in Kochi, Kerala. A younger physician accused the musician of sexually assaulting her a number of occasions between August 2021 and March 2023 underneath the guise of marriage after they met by way of social media.
In August, the Kerala Excessive Court docket granted him anticipatory bail within the case, stating that “labelling bodily intimacy as rape after a relationship ceased to exist is illogical and harsh.” He was arrested on file in September and launched on bail. In August, a music researcher had additionally filed a sexual harassment criticism in opposition to Vedan, and the Ernakulam Central police registered a case in opposition to him. A chargesheet was filed in opposition to him in October. In November, the HC amended a earlier situation imposed on him, permitting him to journey overseas for work.
