In an apparent extension of the online abuse campaign against Parvathy, a newly released song from the actress’s upcoming movie has received a record 95,000 dislikes on YouTube as of Wednesday morning. The song Pathungi from the Malayalam movie My Story was uploaded on December 31 and features Parvathy and her co-star, Prithviraj. My Story is scheduled to be released in March.
Parvathy has been the target of vicious cyber bullying after she commented on the purported misogynistic dialogue in Malayalam star Mammootty’s 2016 film Kasaba. After the Qarib Qarib Singlle actress filed a police complaint with screenshots of some of the abusive messages, which included rape and death threats, the police arrested two men in connection with the case last week.
A video on the making of Pathungi, uploaded on December 30, has also received 85,000 dislikes so far. The News Minute said the comments section, predominantly in Malayalam, “is filled with people challenging Parvathy and ‘feminichis’”, a slang for feminists. Comments for the video of the final song have been disabled.
“It is very sad,” My Story director Roshni Dinaker told Cinema Express.“I think the hate campaign is a paid conspiracy. The kind of abusive words used by these people on my Facebook page against Parvathy is an indicator of what she is subjected to.”
A love story based in Portugal, My Story marks Dinakar’s directorial debut. “My Story is the collective effort of over 200 people. A lot of us have made sacrifices for the film. At the end of the day, I believe we, including Parvathy and Prithviraj, have put in our 100% . I am sure that My Story will do well in theatres because the content is good,” Dinakar said.
Writing for Scroll.in on December 29, Parvathy reiterated that the abuse she was being subjected to was a reflection of deeply-entrenched misogyny. “An army is rising to fix what for generations we have condoned. This time, it will be done right. Through the law, love and respect,” she wrote.