FEFKA questions practicality of cops in plainclothes in film sets

The Film Employees’ Federation of Kerala (FEFKA) has questioned the practicality of deploying cops in plainclothes as a deterrent against drugs in film sets.

Addressing a press conference here on Thursday, FEFKA general secretary B. Unnikrishnan said that none other than the film crew would be allowed in a film set, which, he said, was a closed unit. He also expressed apprehension about cops in plainclothes intruding into a frame while shooting.

Mr. Unnikrishnan was responding to a recent statement by K. Sethu Raman, District Police Chief (Kochi City), that cops in plainclothes would be deployed in film sets. He wondered whether the senior police officer knew about the medium.

“FEFKA is against the notion that film industry represents a workplace that needs to be kept under constant surveillance. Any such perception should change and any attempt [for such constant surveillance] would be strongly resisted,” said Mr. Unnikrishnan.

He was also critical of actor Tiny Tom’s recent public statement that drugs were being used in film sets, and that an actor he had worked with had his tooth crumbling owing to constant use of drugs. Mr. Unnikrishnan wondered whether the Excise had recorded the statement of Mr. Tom, who was actively associated with the Excise department’s anti-drug Vimukthi campaign. Mr. Tom had also said that he had turned down an opportunity for his son to act in a film for fear that he might get exposed to drugs. Mr. Unnikrishnan dismissed it saying that it was about the relation between the actor and his son.

He also urged those associated with the film industry who had made public statements about the existence of a list of users of drugs in the industry to hand it over to the enforcement agencies concerned.

Mr. Unnikrishnan rued that the popular discourse surrounding the film industry had constructed a public perception that it was populated with drug addicts. He also distanced from other film bodies, which had been more vocal about drug menace hampering the industry, stating that FEFKA being a responsible organisation would not make such sweeping statements nor did it have any such list of drug users in the industry.