Actors would sometimes fake their death on screen. But, in Malayalam cinema, they would also be forced to deny fake news about their own death.
Vijayaraghavan is the latest actor to find the report about his own death grossly exaggerated, to borrow from Mark Twain. The news that he died began circulating in the social media on Wednesday evening.
Alerted by son
A photo of an ambulance, on the bonnet of which a picture of Vijayaraghavan was mounted, also accompanied the report. “I came to know of my death when my younger son called me up to say that he saw the message on WhatsApp,” Vijayaraghavan told The Hindu on Thursday. “Before long, I started getting calls from so many people, including journalists from news channels.”
He did not want to make his own death a topic for live television debates, but reporters still went to his house, armed with cameras. Before him, Kanaka, who has also been a successful heroine in Tamil cinema, Innocent, Mamukkoya and Salim Kumar have all had to go through similar experiences in recent years. Television channels had even begun airing homage to Kanaka.
“I didn’t want to appear on television because I didn’t want to give more pleasure to the sick mind who first posted the picture and the news on the social media,” said Vijayaraghavan. “The picture was taken from the shooting location of my new film, a couple of months ago. I have no intention to register a complaint with the police.”
He added that it was not just premature obituaries that were doing harm. “At least, I could come on record and say that I am not dead. What about someone like Dileep? Far too many ugly charges were made against him without any substance recenlty.”
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had found himself being the subject of such fake news, some eight years ago. Somebody had posted the picture of a posh bungalow and claimed that it was the house of Mr. Vijayan.
Fake news may have hit global headlines since the last Presidential election in the United States, but that is nothing new for Malayalis.
