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Theatre company reaches out with play on Asian drag community

An upcoming play exploring the British Asian drag community, uncovering the untold stories of men who don female personas by night, will be the company’s most provocative yet, its artistic director said.

Miss Meena and the Masala Queens follows the story of drag queen Miss Meena, whose nightclub has fallen on hard times. Just as a new face arrives with a glimmer of hope, however, Miss Meena finds himself in a moral dilemma.


Director Pravesh Kumar, who is also artistic director of Rifco...

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Kerala actress assault case

Inside the Kerala actress assault case and the reckoning it triggered in Malayalam cinema

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The Kerala actress assault case explained: How it is changing industry culture in Malayalam cinema

Highlights:

  • February 2017: Actress abducted and sexually assaulted; case reported the next day.
  • Legal journey: Trial ran nearly nine years, with witnesses turning hostile and evidence disputes.
  • Verdict: Six accused convicted; actor Dileep acquitted of conspiracy in December 2025.
  • Industry impact: Led to WCC, Hema Committee report, and exposure of systemic harassment.
  • Aftermath: Protests, public backlash, and survivor’s statement questioning justice and equality.

You arrive in Kochi, and it feels like the sea air makes everything slightly sharper; faces in the city look purposeful, a film poster peels at the corner of a wall. In a city that has cradled a thriving film industry for decades, a single crime on the night of 17 February 2017 ruptured the ordinary: an abduction, a recorded sexual assault and a survivor who reported it the next day. What happened next is every woman’s unspoken nightmare, weaponised into brutal reality. It was a public unpeeling of an industry’s power structures, a slow-motion fight over evidence and testimony, and a national debate about how institutions protect (or fail) women.

For over eight years, her fight for justice became a mirror held up to an entire industry and a society. It was a journey from the dark confines of that car to the glaring lights of a courtroom, from being a silenced victim to becoming a defiant survivor whose voice sparked a revolution. This is not just the story of a crime. It is the story of what happens when one woman says, "Enough," and the tremors that follow.

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