Malaikottai Vaaliban Director Strongly Reacts To Criticism Over Trans Woman Playing Villain In Film

Mohanlal has just seen through the release of Malaikottai Vaaliban, his first cinematic outing of the year. The film, which released on January 25, has collected ₹12.64 crores domestically with its worldwide collections coming in at ₹26.92 crores. The film however, now finds itself as the subject of criticism with regards trans actor Sanjana Chandra being cast as an antagonist in the film. Director Lijo Jose Pellissery has now reacted to the same.

Lijo Jose Pellissery defends decision to cast Sanjana Chandra as the villain

In a recent interview with Rekha Menon, Lijo Jose Pellissery addressed pressing criticism surrounding his film. Popular conjecture is criticising the film for featuring trans actor Sanjana Chandra as the villainous Thenamma. Pellissery however, has shut down conjecture right away, by asserting he finds nothing wrong in having Chandra as a villain. The director also affirmed Chandra's performance in the film.

He said, "Among some of the criticisms about Malaikottai Vaaliban is that a trans woman character, played by Sanjana Chandran in the movie is used as a villain character. So what? What's wrong with a trans woman playing a villainous character? It is an idea, a character, a cinema, and somebody is playing a character in it. And Sanjana has done a wonderful job."

Lijo Jose Pellissery says the actor's performance is more important that their gender identity

Pellissery further supplemented his stance by asserting how gender identity does not need to factor is when assessing a character. The Malaikottai Vaaliban director further stated how focus must be on the performance and how much the actor has been able to do justice to the narrative. 

He said, "Instead of appreciating her performance, the discussion is about why a trans woman is playing a villain character. So I don't know how to react to this. Such criticisms are so silly, I think." Malaikottai Vaaliban is still running in theatres. Besides Mohanlal, the film also features an ensemble cast of Sonalee Kulkarni, Katha Nandi, Danish Sait and Hareesh Peradi among others.