KFPA distances themselves from Shane Nigam and Sreenath Bhasi.
KFPA, AMMA and FEFKA addressed the issue surrounding Shane Nigam and Sreenath Bhasi. They said that they are not banning them but will not cooperate with them either.
A joint meeting of the Kerala Film Producers’ Association (KFPA), Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA), and Film Employees Federation of Kerala (FEFKA) on Tuesday decided that hereafter they will not cooperate with two young popular actors Shane Nigam and Sreenath Bhasi allegedly due to their ‘misbehaviour and indiscipline’. According to the organisations, this decision follows recent complaints from several producers regarding the recent incapacitated manners on film sets. In a press meeting held in Kochi, the associations also stated that they will send a list of actors who continue to be involved with drug abuse, to the State government including the cultural minister.
“There is no ban. Don’t twist what we said. There have been many complaints against Shane Nigam and Sreenath Bhasi. There are a lot of actors who take ‘chemical substances’. You can understand what I mean by chemical. We mean ‘drug abuse.’ There are a lot of people who use drugs on set and cause trouble. We cannot cooperate with those who indulge in drug abuse. We are not taking the names of all those who use drugs. However, both Shane and Sreenath have repeatedly troubled filmmakers, technicians, and co-stars,” said KFPA functionary and film producer M Renjith while adding that the conduct of both actors has resulted in enormous losses for film producers.
Renjith also said, “(KFPA) will not provide the no objection certificates to upcoming movies featuring Shane Nigam and Sreenath Bhasi. We are not banning them. We are telling the producers that we will not be responsible for the commitments they enter into with these irresponsible artists. We have told the producers that if they go ahead and make movies with these actors, we will not entertain any complaints. If there are people who can tolerate these two, they can. As far as we are concerned, we can’t cooperate with people we can’t tolerate.”
Shane is known for films such as ‘Kisamath’, ‘Parava’, ‘Ishq’ and ‘Corona Papers’, and Sreenath is known for films such as ‘Da Thadiya’, Honey Bee, Trance and Bheeshma Paravam. ‘Kumbalangi Nights’ where both of them acted as brothers was a huge hit.
Ranjith alleged that both Shane and Sreenath created a lot of annoyance to the respective film producers and their crew. “The film organisations can’t justify Shane Nigam’s actions. Shane insisted he should be given more prominence in the film (Nahas Hidhayath’s upcoming film RDX) halfway through the production. He wanted the movie to be edited mid-production. He even threatened not to act in the movie. There is proof of all this,” Renjith said in a reply to a question on the complaints against Shane Nigam and Sreenath Bhasi, in the presence of the producer of the film RDX, Sophia Paul.
Talking about Sreenath Bhasi, Renjith said, “Sreenath Bhasi has no idea which films he is acting in. He even says agreements with producers are traps.” Last week, FEFKA had then said no actors have the right to interfere in the process following reports that Shane Nigam walked out of the sets of the film RDX and even tried to interfere in the editing process.
Both the actors were not available for any comments despite the serious allegations levelled against them in public.
Though the allegations of drug abuse by the Malayalam film actors were in the air for nearly a decade, this is the first time that these organisations associated with film production made a clarion call in public.
