Actor Mohanlal on Monday described the #MeToo campaign as a passing fad and claimed it was not a concern for the Malayalam film industry, Manorama reported. The campaign has seen several women, including actors and journalists, going public on social media with their accounts of sexual harassment and misconduct.

Mohanlal is the president of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists. Mohanlal said that sexual misconduct could occur anywhere and was not limited only to the film industry.

“There is no big problem in the Malayalam film industry,” he said at a press conference in Dubai. “In fact, #MeToo is turning into something of a fashion. Anything like that will have a life span for a bit and will soon disappear.”

However, he added, “I cannot make a comment on #MeToo, you can talk about it only if you experience it. Otherwise there is no point in commenting.”

Last month, a casting director accused Kerala-based actor-turned-politician Mukesh of sexual harassment. Mukesh, now a Communist Party of India (Marxist) MLA, later refuted the claims.

Mohanlal came under fire in June when the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists decided to reinstate actor Dileep, who was expelled from the organisation in July 2017 for his alleged involvement in the abduction and sexual assault of a Malayalam actress. The decision to reinstate him was taken after Mohanlal took charge as president.

While a few actors and the complainant had resigned from the organisation in protest, Mohanlal had defended the decision to reinstate Dileep, saying that members had not raised any objections and some of them had even spoken in favour of the expelled actor.

In July, more than 100 activists and members of the Malayalam film industry had protested against the state government’s decision to invite Mohanlal to the Kerala State Film Awards Ceremony as chief guest.

Last month, the artists’ guild accepted Dileep’s resignation after the Kerala-based Women in Cinema Collective accused both AMMA and Mohanlal of being unresponsive and of supporting the accused.