Costume designer Liji Preman has alleged mental harassment by filmmaker Ratheesh Balakrishnan Poduval on the sets of ‘Sureshinteyum Sumalathayudeyum Hrudayahariyaya Pranayakadha’. Liji, who approached the Ernakulam Munsiff Court, also claimed that her name was not included in the credit line despite working on the film for 110 days. Liji in an interview with Manorama Online claimed that Ratheesh had approached her after seeing her work in movies like ‘Barroz’ and Rajnikanth starrer ‘Vettaiyan’.
“The crew said that we would be filming for 35 days. I asked them Rs 2.5 lakh as remuneration and was paid Rs 1 lakh as advance.
However, I spent 110 days on the film. I faced issues from the director even during the pre – production days. He has ego issues and would treat me like his servant.
He behaved as if he had a personal grudge against me. That is why I decide to leave the project. By then, I had completed around 75 per cent of the work,” she said.
FEFKA involvement Liji decided to approach the Film Employees Federation of Kerala (FEFKA) when she realised that her name wasn’t there in the credit line. Besides, she hadn’t received her entire remuneration too. FEFKA members held a compromise talk at the producers’ association’s office before the movie’s release.
Liji claimed that the crew had promised to include her name in the credit line. She recalled how they had agreed to give her credit in the presence of union representatives. “The producers did.
