Actor Premkumar to be interim chairman of Chalachitra academy

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With director Ranjith stepping down as chairman of Kerala Chalachitra Academy, insiders indicate that actor Premkumar will take over the position on temporary basis. Premkumar is the current vice chairman of the academy. In 2022, when Beena Paul resigned, Prem Kumar took charge as the vice-chairman.

Director Ranjith, facing sexual allegations, resigned from the post of chairman of the Chalachitra Academy on Sunday morning. The resignation letter was handed over to Govt. The members of the Chalachitra Academy were informed that he would resign today or tomorrow. His resignation is due to sexual allegations by Bengali actress Sreelekha Mitra.

The actress who is also an activist and CPM ally had opened up about the ordeal she faced from Ranjith during the audition of the movie 'Paleri Manikyam' in 2009. She was called for an audition after seeing her performance in 'Akale'. The audition was held at a hotel in Kochi.

'I met director Ranjith in the morning and did the photoshoot later. Had a bad experience while talking about salary, character etc. in the evening. He came closer and touched my bangles first. When he stroked my hair and touched my neck, I got out of the room, called a taxi and went to the hotel. I didn't sleep at night because I was afraid that he would break into the hotel room.” Said Sreelekha Mitra.