Kerala Police to harness star power to lessen filmdom’s accent on gory cinemas

Image used for representational purpose.
| Photo Credit: PTI

The Kerala Police plan to enlist the help of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA) to lessen the entertainment industry’s “growing accent on money-spinning” murder and mutilation films, which arguably desensitise youth to the horrors of wanton physical violence.

The move comes as investigators continue to search for credible psychological insights into the motivations of the 23-year-old charged with the “methodical and premeditated” murder of four family members and his girlfriend in Thiruvananthapuram district on February 26, as well as the suspects involved in the recent killing of a Class X student, Shahabas, in Thamarassery, Kozhikode, last week.

Also read | Murder of student: police recover martial arts weapon, look for more suspects

The police initiative also holds vital public interest given the Central Board of Film Certification’s (CBFC) decision to block the TV/OTT release of the Malayalam film Marco, which the regulatory body deemed excessively violent for living room audiences.

Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Manoj Abraham, in charge of the community policing initiative, told The Hindu that filmy notions of hypermasculinity and gang loyalty had given a murderous gung-ho edge to adolescent rivalries with disastrous consequences for Kerala society.

Mohan Roy, Assistant Professor and Consultant Psychiatrist at Government Medical College Thiruvananthapuram, states that several recent blockbusters seem like clones of violent video games that normalise murder and mayhem.

“Action heroes who cannot be felled on screen often eclipse the reality that a blow to the head or a stomach punch could turn fatal as in the tragic Shahabas murder case”, he said.

Kerala Chalachitra Academy chairperson Premkumar points out that filmmakers increasingly incorporate repulsive graphic violence into screenplays to compensate for weak storylines and dismal plots.

“Hitting the audience, especially the young crowd, with brutal imagery helps poorly made nonsensical movies click at the box office. The film and television industry needs an intellectual cleansing,” Mr. Premkumar adds.

Kerala Film Producers Association secretary B. Rakesh, however, says it is erroneous to always co-relate violence in movies to youth aggression and substance abuse. “It’s not a question the industry or society can answer at a stroke. The CBFC should ensure that movies remain within societal guard rails before release,” he says.