‘There is a mafia sangham in the industry’: actor Shammi Thilakan on the Hema Commission report

A day after the Hema committee report was released, actor Shammi Thilakan accused minister KB Ganesh Kumar of being one of those who imposed an unofficial ban on his late father, actor Thilakan. Shammi told TNIE that the report talks about a famous actor who was banned from the industry by 15 powerful people and it was none other than his father.

The report reveals that a famous actor once referred to the influential group in the film industry as a ‘mafia sangham’, suggesting that they had the power to dictate terms and make anything happen. Despite being an exceptionally talented actor, Thilakan claimed that he was ousted from the industry due to a conspiracy of 10 to 15 people who wanted to remove him from cinema. Forced to switch to television roles, Thilakan still could not escape the clutches of this powerful lobby. Interestingly, the president of ATMA at the time was also a film actor.

Shammi said Ganesh was the president of ATMA since its inception. “What is stated in the report is correct. Ganesh lobbied the 15-member gang that controls the Malayalam film industry to ban Thilakan even from serials. During a meeting of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA), a star insulted Thilakan, shouted at him and asked him to leave the meeting. The same star visited my father when he was in a critical condition in the hospital. He told me that Thilakan was like a bappa (father) to him.”

“They expelled Thilakan from AMMA. After my father passed away in 2018, I raised the issue of Thilakan’s defamation in a board meeting of AMMA. The then chairman Mohanlal said that the committee could look into the matter and that Thilakan Chettan should be given justice. There was a feeling that AMMA should apologise to Thilakan. I asked them to form a committee to look into the matter. Nothing happened. Later, a senior actor told me that apologising to Thilakan would damage her image,” he said.

Shammi also questioned director Vinayan’s alleged silence on the ‘power group’. “He claims that he knows the names of these people. Why doesn’t he reveal them? Vinayan had fought his case to ban Thilakan and won it in the Supreme Court,” Shammi said.