Once a shining star, true to his sobriquet “Janapriya Nayakan” (people’s favorite), Dileep is all set for his next movie, after more than 8 consecutive box office failures. During the audio launch of his upcoming movie Pavi Caretaker, which will hit the theatres on 26^th April 2024, Dileep said something interesting, something delusional and dismissive to be precise. “As someone you who used to make you laugh, the success of this movie is imperative for my existence in the industry. I have made you laugh but for the past couple of years, I have been crying”. While I appreciate his awareness of his current position in the industry, the ignorance in his speech baffles me.

Is the Actor Assault Case Really the Reason for the Failure of His Movies?

The second part of his statement mentioned above is regarding the sexual assault case he is involved in. Let’s keep the case against him aside for a while and look at his career. He has been giving back-to-back flops even before the storm of the case brought some dark secrets out to the public. He had a golden period in his career, the late 90s and early 2000s when people loved watching him on screens, laughing at his quirks and jokes.

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Once you notice people are enjoying something you did, it is common to repeat it and offer more of it to keep the audience engaged. But Dileep took it a little too far. He got stuck in his ways while the audience moved on. Malayalam cinema saw a new wave of storytelling by 2012 with movies like Traffic and Chapa Kurish ushering in a whole new cinematic experience while Dileep, oblivious to these changes continued to bore the audience with his same old quirks, which had lost its effect by then.

But it’s Dileep, who has long lost his crown as “people’s favorite” but is in denial. Why should I change, let the audience change to like my movies – this is how Dileep is approaching his box office disasters at the moment. His failure to adapt to the changing times is the root cause of the failure of his movies. Of all the people around the world, the Malayali audience would be the last category to ignore a good story or a good movie.

Even Mohanlal did not stand a chance, then Dileep is out of the question.

The Impact of the Case on His Career

Now coming to his sexual assault case. Yes, his involvement in the case did drag his reputation into the mud. There is no denying that. Personally, it was shocking to know that someone whose movies you still laugh at (Punjabi House, CID Moosa, Pandipada, you name it) had this side to his personality as well. Rewatching his movies has never been the same. There’s a sense of guilt that creeps in whenever I try to watch them. It gets difficult to ignore the hidden rape jokes, assault mastermind scenes, and other elements that are somehow so relatable to the actual case.

I know the verdict is still not out, but let’s not forget the influence he has in society. The recent updates in the case regarding the evidence tampering is the latest proof for the same. Did he do it? Only the honorable court has the final say. But can someone please ask him to stop framing himself as a victim? It is not only a clear disregard for the actual victim, but also a cheap publicity stunt through which people can see right through. His desperate cry for help is a sense of entitlement in disguise. The audience does not owe him anything, he owes it to the audience.

Today nobody is going to watch a movie just because it is a “Dileep movie”. That ship has long sailed. The only way forward for him as an actor, (and mind you he is a good one) is to get out of his 2000s template and try new things, shed his scales, and catch up with the evolving storytelling in Malayalam cinema. I hope Pavi Caretaker makes a difference for him. Good cinema, above everything!