Director Mysskin makes rape joke to praise Mammootty's Peranbu performance, gets slammed on Twitter

Tamil filmmaker Mysskin has been slammed online for making an insensitive rape joke at the audio launch of Peranbu in Chennai on Sunday (15 July). The film director, according to The News Minute , said that Mammootty’s performance in the upcoming Peranbu was so good that he would have “raped” the actor if Mysskin had been a woman.

“You can keep watching Mammootty sir throughout this film. If he had been younger and he had been a woman, I might have fallen in love with him. Had I been a girl, I’d have raped him actually. Such fabulous acting.” His comments were met with laughter and applause by sections of the audience. The function was attended by several prominent personalities like Siddharth, Andrea Jeremiah, Vasanth Ravi, Bharathiraja, KS Ravikumar, Vetrimaran, Bala, Karu Pazhaniappan, Aadhik Ravichandran, AL Vijay and Aram Gopi Nainaar, according to a report by Bollywoodlife.com.

Mysskin concluded his speech saying, “You have to create a controversy somehow to make this film a big hit and with that, my job here is done.” Peranbu is a story about the relationship between a father (Mammootty) and his daughter (Sadhana), who suffers from a physical disability.

Director Vijay, who was also present at the event, told  The New Indian Express  that the comments should not be taken out of context. “I think we should take Mysskin’s comments only within the context of him trying to appreciate the actor,” he said. “I don’t think we should create controversies out of this.”

But, on Twitter, Mysskin’s comments were slammed.

I was surprised as to how low director Mysskin had fallen with his Thupparivalan. But he is worse in real life. So, it is clear now. I was a great admirer of his work. Not anymore!https://t.co/IT2fg7ZbQS

— Deepan Qweeter Kannan (@kannandeepan) July 17, 2018

#Mysskin's distasteful statement doesn't fall under 'just a joke' category. Oh man, rape jokes aren't funny. CAN NEVER BE. Survivors of sexual violence deserve respect and support. Please don't tweet, 'come on, he of course, didn't really mean it'.

— Subhakeerthana (@bhakisundar) July 16, 2018

Is this even a worthy manner of appreciating Mammootty? What is so funny in #mysskin saying he would’ve raped #Mammootty had he been a girl? Role reversal?? Its not a compliment to either the mega star or any woman. Also - One can praise an actor without having to decry another. https://t.co/ov2mMMI1s0

— SujathaNarayanan (@N_sujatha08) July 16, 2018

That rape comment at the end, and the ensuing applause. Sigh.
Quite an abhorrent way to express admiration. https://t.co/uw4TGYxT2t

— Sudhir Srinivasan (@sudhirsrinivasn) July 16, 2018