These days opinions are formed even without watching a film: Balachandra Menon

Thiruvananthapuram: The proliferation of social media platforms could well be the death knell for the Malayalam film industry, according to Balachandra Menon, a leading Malayalam film personality.

The 61-year-old, a hugely popular director-actor and a jack of all trades in the Malayalam film industry, said he is pained by the way opinions are made, created and propagated about new films in the social media.

"I am sitting here not to promote my latest directorial 'Njan Samidhanam Cheyyum', but to express my fears in the manner in which opinions about films are made and propagated even before the film is released.

"Even worse is that at times people write reviews without even watching the films. This is a dangerous trend because the Malayalam film industry could well become one where it could be tough to recover investments, if things go on like in this in the social media," Menon, who is a National Award-winning talent, told media persons here.

In a career spanning close to four decades, Menon has directed more than 40 films and acted in close to a 100 films, is known for introducing hugely popular actress like Shobana, Parvathy, Karthika, Annie and Nandini in the film world.

"I was pained to see responses to my new film, even before the film hit the screens and after its release, it has turned for the worse. We have no problems to get constructive criticism, but this is a bit too much," said Menon, who was returning to the industry as a director after a gap of seven years.

Echoing similar sentiments was Maneka, a hugely popular actress of yesteryear and mother of now upcoming star Keerthi, who said that it's most unfortunate that the social media is doing more injustice than justice.

"Today opinions are made and propagated very quickly and passed through the social media. What happens is that negative opinions about a film become a stumbling block for people who decide not to watch the film," said Maneka, who has returned to don the greasepaint after a gap of a few years.

She added that she has got very good reports of her acting and would not mind acting again, if suitable roles come up.