Cinema must highlight injustices, says actress Parvathy Thiruvothu

Kochi: Actress Parvathy Thiruvothu cinema should address social injustices like honour killing, rape, and oppression of minorities. She added that highlighting these issues is a moral responsibility.

She is gearing up for the release of her OTT release 'Wonder Woman', an English-language film by Anjali Menon. The plot revolves around five pregnant women who meet at a prenatal class and confront their deep-rooted problems.

Speaking to IANS, Parvathy said gender-based violence is linked to caste discrimination. "When our sisters are raped and hung on trees by upper-caste goons, there's hardly any word about it." Highlighting the hijab row, she said "there's hardly any noise around for women who want to dress up in the way they want to as per their beliefs. Ours is a democratic country, after all."

She also responded to the ongoing persecution of women in Iran and said the time to react to such matters is long past and now is the time to put society on the right track.

She observed that the society in India reacts on social media when oppression happening in Gaza makes it to the news. "But when oppression happens in our neighbouring villages, it doesn't draw as much attention. Caste murders for instance are still referred to as honour killings when in reality they're simply caste killings."

She clarified that she is not saying people shouldn't react to international issues but is only drawing attention to local issues. "It is our duty to raise our voices against oppression in any part of the world. And I have always said this. If you want to be international, be as local as possible. First, let us address issues at home and then we can hope that the domino effect of countering oppression spreads out across the borders and helps people in other parts of the world."