LUCKNOW, Uttar Pradesh — Shortly after midnight on 12 February 2014, Anshu Rajput felt the skin on her face melting off. Her 55-year-old neighbour, whose sexual advances she had rejected, had clambered over the low wall that separated their houses, crept up to her as she lay sleeping in the courtyard, and poured acid on her face.

Rajput was 15 years old at the time, and she believed her life was over.

More than four years later, Rajput can speak matter-of-factly, not just about the horrific acid attack she survived, but also about the man who disfigured her face.

"He wanted to have sexual relations with me. I told my parents, who complained to his sons. There was a quarrel," she said. "But there are many like him, older men who throw acid on young girls. I know this girl who was also 15 when a man in his fifties threw acid on her. I know this other girl in Delhi who was 17 when her bua's son threw acid on her. He was 45."

But Rajput does not speak of the present in the neutral tone of voice that she uses for her past. The 20-year-old, who hails from Abid Nagar village in Bijnor, is animated when talking about her future, which, unlike her past, she is determined to fashion.

Currently, Rajput sees the Yogi Adityanath-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Uttar Pradesh as the biggest threat to her future happiness. For the past few months, state authorities have been trying to close a popular cafe named Sheroes Hangout, situated in the heart of Lucknow, which is known for employing acid attack survivors.

The state government has accused the Chhanv Foundation, the organisation which runs Sheroes, of financial irregularities. The New Delhi-based foundation, which opened Sheroes Hangout in Lucknow in collaboration with the UP Mahila Kalyan Nigam under the previous government led by Akhilesh Yadav, denies wrongdoing.

Alok Dixit, who runs Chhanv Foundation, has accused the BJP government of irregularities in the administration of the cafe, as well as lengthy delays in paying the salaries of the acid attack survivors.

"It was only after our campaign to save the cafe gained traction did the government start denying that they were planning to close Sheroes, but this denial is not part of any official paperwork. The UP Mahila Kalyan Nigam is looking to return this space to the LDA (Lucknow Development Authority)," Dixit told HuffPost India.

Rajput and 12 other acid attack survivors who work at Sheroes are caught in the middle of the conflict between Chhanv Foundation, which gave them a new lease of life, and the Adityanath government. They feel trapped under mounting legal notices, red tape, state apathy and a political tug of war between the past and present regime in UP.

"This cafe, the structure, is not Sheroes. We are Sheroes. She plus heroes," said Rajput. "My face was taken from me by a man but I won't allow anyone to take my life."

In August, the Adityanath government announced that a new tender to run Sheroes had been given to a private firm named Lotus Hospitality, but when Chhanv Foundation went to court over irregularities in the tender, it was cancelled.

My face was taken from me by a man but I won't allow anyone to take my life.

In September, the government accused Chhanv Foundation of various financial irregularities and gave them three days to vacate. At this point, the acid attack survivors launched an online campaign against the order. Supporters, both online and in the city, demanded that the state government back off. The survivors also approached the Allahabad High Court, which stayed the government order for 23 days.

Embarrassed, the Adityanath government said that Sheroes would not be closed, but did not clarify whether it would be run by Chhanv Foundation or not. Rita Bahuguna Joshi, the state's minister for child, women and family welfare, issued a statement, reassuring the acid attack survivors that they would not lose their jobs.

"Sheroes hangout cafe won't be closed. The UP government is committed to ensuring livelihood of acid attack survivors. The department has been directed to talk to the survivors and to find a way of the situation," she said.

Rajput, however, does not feel reassured. "In all this time, the minister has never once come to meet us or had a single conversation with us in person," she said. "If she comes to speak with us, she will realise that a lot of homes are functioning because of this place. A lot of hopes and dreams are kept alive with this place. We don't want to go back to the filth from which we have emerged. We would prefer to run a thela outside, but not return to that filth."

Going to the Supreme Court

In the weeks and months that she was consumed by a sense of helplessness after the acid attack, Rajput would never have believed the road to recovery would be fairly swift, not in terms of her physical recovery, but taking charge of her destiny.

The young woman from Abid Nagar village in Bijnor, who lost sight in one eye after the attack, certainly never imagined that she would be heading to the Supreme Court to make her case for Chhanv Foundation.

"I was timid. I did not have the courage to speak before anyone. The way I'm speaking to you, I would not have been able to do it earlier, but now I can express my point of view in public," she said.

Earlier this month, Rajput was told that she had to appear for her first hearing in the Supreme Court

Rajput told this reporter that her heart skipped a beat, but then she quickly set about making plans to catch an overnight train to Delhi. "This cafe is my home and I will fight for it. We will embarrass the government but we will not be bullied," she said.

Pausing only for a few minutes to comment on the peeling ceilings and peculiar growth on the walls of the government hostel where she and other acid attack survivors live, 2-3 girls in one small room, Rajput rushed to pack her bag.

"You ask why we don't trust the government to save us, then just look at this place. It gets flooded in the monsoon. And it gets so dirty that we cannot come here after our surgery. We have to book rooms in a hotel even if we can't afford it," she said.

This cafe is my home and I will fight for it. We will embarrass the government but we will not be bullied.

Rajput continued, "Isn't it the job of the government to ensure there are no acid attacks? Well, the government isn't doing the job. At least, we are creating some public awareness. People now see us and don't think of us as monsters, but humans behind these faces."

While packing her bag for the overnight journey to Delhi, Rajput spoke of how Sheroes had changed her life.

"I had no idea there was such a big world out there. When I was attacked, I thought I was alone in the world. When I got here, I realised there are other acid attack victims. I realised there are other women who have survived atrocities. I realised I was not alone in the world and that has been my biggest strength."

Farah Khan, 33, whose ex-husband threw acid on her in 2011, said that meeting survivors younger than her changed her life.

Khan, who is blind in one eye and only has 20% vision in the other, said, "I used to think, could this attack not have happened after a few years when I was older and I have lived a little? But after joining Sheroes, my thinking changed. I saw younger girls who has been attacked but were determined to carry on with their lives," she said.

On whether she would continue her fight if the allegations against Chhanv Foundation were found to be true, Khan, who was accompanying Rajput to New Delhi, said, "It is the government's job to help us acid attack survivors, but it is Chhanv Foundation that is giving us a second chance at life."

Caught in the middle

In March 2016, after he visited the first Sheroes Hangout, in Agra, former Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav invited Chhanv Foundation to open a second outlet in Lucknow. Under the Memorandum of Understanding between Chhanv Foundation and UP Mahila Kalyan Nigam, the government was to provide Rs 4.10 lakh every month towards running the cafe to make it self sustainable within two years.

Last month, a state monitoring committee accused Chhanv Foundation of a range of financial irregularities, including paying 12 acid attack survivors less than what other employees at the cafe were earning. The government also said that even though the cafe's earnings in 2017-18 were 13 times more than the previous year, the foundation did not increase the survivors' salaries.

Further, the state government said that Chhanv Foundation failed to open a joint account with the UP Mahila Kalyan Nigam, provided incomplete bill vouchers, electricity bills and documents related to expenditure, and conducted various programmes without seeking permission.

The committee also claimed that the acid attack survivors refused to speak with its representatives without Chhanv Foundation members being present.

"It reflects that all survivors are under pressure of Chhanv Foundation, whereas the objective of the cafe was to make the survivors independent and not to be dependent on any organisation," it said in a report.

Dixit, who runs Chhanv Foundation, claims that the monthly payment of Rs 4.10 lakh stopped six months after the Adityanath government came to power in March 2017. "It was only after we put a lot of pressure did the government release money for the salary of the survivors. They never got full salaries," he said.

Dixit also alleges various irregularities in the manner the tender was granted to Lotus Hospitality, including a report appearing in the media even before the tender was officially opened.

"They announced a tender to run Sheroes Hangout, but Sheroes Hangout, the idea, concept, the execution, everything is ours. It is our brand," he said. "They have no experience of working with acid attack survivors. This is not just a job. They have come to seek long-term rehabilitation."

They have no experience of working with acid attack survivors. This is not just a job.

Under the MOU, Dixit said that a state monitoring committee had to be set up to manage the café, which would include one member each from Chhanv Foundation, the UP Mahila Kalyan Nigam and the government, along with a social activist and an auditor, but the panel was only set up in August, months after the Foundation's contract ended on 8 March 2018.

"This committee was made after we put an RTI and went to court. They made the committee in that notice period, excluded us and framed allegations against us," he said.

Highlighting key passages in the proceedings of the committee, Dixit said that it was decided that no one would be given the tender and the space would be returned to the Lucknow Development Authority.

"It is written very clearly. Rita Bahuguna Joshi is saying that café will continue working, but no one is looking at what is written and they have managed the media," he said. "They know that if they take out another tender, we will get it because we are in a unique position to work with acid attack survivors and to run a café."

Financial stability means a lot

"Being close to fire can melt our skin, so we cannot cook, but other than that we do everything," said Khan.

From taking orders to working the till, the acid attack survivors are responsible for running Sheroes. Financial independence means the world to them. Many women who work at the cafe send money to their families living in small towns and villages in UP.

"With the exception of my parents, my relatives and even close friends distanced themselves from me after the attack. But after I became financially independent, they came back," she said. "That's just the way of the world."

Under a new agreement with Chhanv Foundation, which they entered in March, the acid attack survivors say they are paid Rs 23,000 every month. The UP government paid them Rs 12,000 every month, and the survivors claim they received this after lengthy delays.

Rajput and Khan both said they received a lump sum of around Rs 50,000 each, once or twice. Rajput added that the government still owes her Rs 1 lakh in salary arrears.

The prospect of a future in which she is not self-dependent terrifies Khan who, before losing her eyesight, used to earn a living making clothes. Her father, a heart patient, no longer works, and the burden of supporting her family is on her and one of her three brothers.

"The fact that I can stand on my own two feet is helping me find my place in the world," she said.

They have no experience of working with acid attack survivors. This is not just a job.

As she zipped up her duffel bag, Khan said, "Even when I was attacked, I was in a rush to get better. I used to keep asking the doctor when will I get better. I still don't have an answer."

Making her way out of the door, she said, "I realised that life never stops, it keeps going, and I have found the will to keep going."

I realised that life never stops, it keeps going, and I have found the will to keep going.

At the hearing on 10 October, the Supreme Court said the Chhanv Foundation could run the cafe for nine months, during which period the Allahabad High Court will finish hearing the matter.

Rajput recalled standing behind their lawyer, next to Khan, staring up at the judge during the 10-minute hearing.

"We did not say anything, the lawyer was doing the talking, but I was confident that we would get a ruling in our favour," she said. "When the judge gave us nine months, the emptiness that I was feeling in my heart melted away."

"We have not done anything wrong. Now, we have nine months to prove it," said Rajput.

Also on HuffPost India:

NEW DELHI — A Delhi court Thursday took cognisance of former Union minister MJ Akbar's criminal defamation complaint against journalist Priya Ramani, who has accused him of sexual misconduct around 20 years ago, and fixed it for recording of his statement on October 31.

Additional chief metropolitan magistrate Samar Vishal considered the submissions of senior advocate Geeta Luthra, representing Akbar, who referred to various tweets of Ramani to allege that they have caused irreparable damage to the reputation of the former junior minister of external affairs.

Akbar has resigned due to these allegations and they show the damage caused to his reputation, says his lawyer.

Luthra referred to the Akbar's reputation as a journalist and asked the court to take cognisance of his complaint, saying the allegations have caused irreparable loss to his reputation built over 40 years.

The court has fixed the matter for recording Akbar's statement on October 31 and after being satisfied it may issue notice to Ramani for appearing and facing the trial in the defamation complaint.

NEW DELHI — Former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Narayan Dutt Tiwari died at a private hospital in New Delhi on Thursday after a prolonged illness, doctors said.

He was 93.

Tiwari was admitted at the Max Super Speciality Hospital and died at 2:50 pm, the doctors said.

The politician was shifted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the hospital on 26 October. He was suffering from fever and pneumonia.

A team of doctors was monitoring his condition in the ICU round the clock.

The veteran leader has served as a Union minister in several Congress governments and as the Andhra Pradesh governor. He also served as Uttarakhand chief minister.

The Villain was the most-anticipated movie from the state of Karnataka in the second half of 2018. And now that it is here, all I can say is I'm angry and sad that the film has turned out to be a bungled mess of stupid ideas. Director Prem has taken two of the biggest stars of Kannada cinema, Shiva Rajkumar and Sudeep, for a ride.

Both the actors get thunderous applause when they are introduced to the viewers via songs and dialogues. If that's what fans expect in movies starring their favourite demigods, so be it. These are petty issues that can be brushed aside once the actual story begins, I thought. But every line, every gesture and every scene in this nearly three-hour movie is written for the cheerleaders in the front row. However, I'm afraid that even they will begin to feel irritated after the initial volley of whistles.

Shiva Rajkumar and Sudeep didn't become stars overnight. They are terrific actors whose range has been explored in several movies. The cool cop you see in Tagaru (Shiva Rajkumar), and the badass villain you're afraid to get closer to in Eega (Sudeep) seem much better showboats for their careers. Those movies utilized the value of their stardom and the actors gave thoroughly enjoyable performances. In The Villain, though, when Ramanna (Shiva Rajkumar) jumps off buildings and lands on other terraces—in parkour fashion, no less—there's more disappointment in the air than excitement.

The Ram-Ravana conflict has become stale now. Unless filmmakers know how to use mythic characters to tell their stories (Mani Ratnam's Thalapathi comes to mind), they should stay away from painting their characters black and white and, of course, from calling them Ravana and Ram to signify the qualities their characters represent.

Ram (Sudeep), whose glances and on-screen re-entries are underlined by the "Raavana... Raavana" background music, is an underworld don who calls himself an underworld don. His tomfoolery makes it hard for anybody to accept him as a person who commits mass murders in the blink of an eye. The incoherent writing doesn't help. And there's a whole stretch involving the kidnapping of Seetha (Amy Jackson in a role that deserves a Razzie) and unfunny rape jokes that worsen the situation.

Shiva Rajkumar's character doesn't have anything to do with romance, surprising for a multi-starrer. And for an actor who has starred in a 100+ films as the lead, it's time for him to step into another phase of his career. His character is hell-bent on finding Ram in Prem's The Villain (Prem is the real villain here). And the director must have given himself a high-five for linking these two characters with the "mother sentiment".

Jogi wouldn't have been a blockbuster if not for the mother's yearning to see her son. And, in The Villain, it's the same banal thread that turns the meek proceedings into poison. It's 2018 and we'd really like to see something more than a string of mass scenes, songs in foreign locales and the buried avva (mother) sentiment. Similarly, Prem must cut down on his fascination for bringing in actresses from Mumbai and London. Rachita Ram, who shakes a leg with Shiva Rajkumar in the Bolo Bolo Ramappa song, looks like a better fit than Amy, who looks lost throughout the film.

Also, the action choreography that was supposed to be one of the pillars of a movie of this scale is lethargically designed. Ram picks up an extra and throws him away like he's a tiny watermelon. Here's one more big-screen blunder that I couldn't resist laughing at: Ram and Ramanna, who are closing in on each other in London, are teleported to Karnataka in a matter of seconds.

Wait! I haven't stopped complaining about the movie yet. All the supporting actors—Mithun Chakraborty, Srikanth and Tilak—vanish without a trace and their characters do not add anything to the narrative. What are well-known faces doing in a movie that doesn't respect their presence? There's more bile in my stomach, but for now, I'll leave you with this—the coming together of Sudeep and Shiva Rajkumar should have been a celebration, not an abomination!

In 1989, when Doordarshan began telecasting Fauji, they obviously had no idea how big a superstar Shah Rukh Khan would become. Neither did we, but we were all enamoured. He wasn't even conventionally good-looking, but every single girl in sixth standard with me had hearts in her eyes when she thought of those chocolate brown eyes, floppy hair and annoyingly adorable stutter.

Some days, we would even enact scenes from the episode that had been telecast the day before. (I shake my head as I even type the word 'telecast'. My boys only know the word 'streaming', but that's a story for another time.) But what appealed to all of us was how he could make us laugh, even in a show that was about soldiers and the army. Although none of us knew what 'coming of age' meant, we were all caught up with the events that shaped the nervous trainee into Lt. Abhimanyu Rai.

My father predicted that 'this boy' would become a famous movie actor one day. He didn't live to see that day, but Shah Rukh had already become a TV favourite, partly, I think, because we were starved for choice. But what really appealed to me was his penchant for goofiness, which we saw ever so briefly in Doosra Keval, even though he was in barely two episodes. I remember waiting endlessly, hoping his character hadn't really died, because after his departure, the show which had been warmly affectionate and fun became morose and boring.

There should be a word for the embarrassment that you feel on behalf of someone else, hmm? That was the emotion I felt, mildly, when I saw him romance Divya Bharti in Deewana. It was probably because until then, we had never seen him do the song-and-dance routine and the obsessed lover was not the Shah Rukh we'd seen and loved on TV. More movies followed and the embarrassment disappeared and in its place came anticipation.

How we laughed when we saw the Bichhoo song in Chamatkar. He hadn't really developed that hero persona by then and he stuttered his way into our hearts, even as Urmila Matondkar and her gang painted his face and made ponytails for him. It was a delight to see him essay all kinds of roles with ease, be it the idealistic young man in Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman or the bad boy/lover boy in Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge.

There were other movies, too, where he was the quintessential romantic hero, but I missed that actor who didn't mind playing the fool if the scene asked for it. By then, I was beginning to be annoyed when I saw Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and Dil To Pagal Hai, although they were still better than his negative roles. I was most certainly not a fan of him trying hard to look menacing and evil, even though he did the boy-next-door roles like in Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa every now and then.

Campy, kitschy 'Baadshah' is one of my favourites, simply because of the fun that Shah Rukh has in the movie

But then Baadshah happened. This campy, kitschy movie is one of my favourites, simply because of the fun that Shah Rukh has in the movie. I'm not sure I can accurately describe the range of absurdity he displays in the film (at least in the first half, before the movie turned into a desi version of Nick of Time). The movie may not have done well but it's a given that my family will sit down and watch it every time it's shown on TV. Mad and meaningless, this movie is one of my favourite entertainers, where Shah Rukh Khan doesn't really care that he's a superstar (although he does wear dark glasses and an absurd-looking detective type coat for most of the film). The song 'main toh hoon pagal' from the movie perfectly sums up both his character and the movie.

Sadly, after Baadshah, we didn't get to see him exploring his funny side that much, unless you count some scenes from Om Shanti Om. Of course, there was that train wreck called Chennai Express where, as in all his recent movies, Shah Rukh seemed fully aware of his own superstardom. But there were also moments in this movie when he allowed himself to be the goofy Baadshah of yesteryears, where his face relayed the energy that used to be his trademark.

I don't have much hopes from the upcoming Zero, which looks like it will riff on the superstar playing a dwarf, but I really hope that amid his intense lover-type roles, Shah Rukh Khan brings his inner goofball out to play once in a while.

NAGPUR, Maharashtra—In most of his speeches in the past four years in Nagpur, be it in the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh's (RSS) third-year training conclusion programmes or the Vijayadashami functions, Mohan Bhagwat has communicated his approval of the Narendra Modi government's policies, at times specifically lauding schemes. But on Thursday, when he delivered his last Vijayadashami speech before next year's general election, Bhagwat had more demands and suggestions for the central government than praise.

The RSS chief made it clear that the outfit wants the Bharatiya Janata Party government to deliver on the Ram Mandir issue.

"As an organisation supporting the Ram Janmabhoomi Andolan, we reiterate that Ram Mandir be constructed at Ram Janmabhoomi at the earliest. There should be an instant decision. We want the government to bring a law and construct the temple. Temple should be built in whichever way it is possible," the RSS chief said in his speech, considered the most important one for the Sangh Pariwar.

Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray also brought up the Ram Mandir issue at the party's annual Dussehra rally, saying he would visit Ayodhya on 25 November.

"We fully agree with RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat that the government should immediately begin construction of the Ram Mandir," Thackeray said.

Bhagwat also took a dig at the government.

"People say you are in power, so why haven't you built it (Ram Temple) yet. But it's a misperception that change in government fulfils your demands," he added.

On Wednesday, a day before Bhagwat's speech, a political observer had toldHuffPost India that the RSS does not want the Modi-Amit Shah duo to come back to power.

Bhagwat also expressed concern over the social situation in the country and said that he doesn't feel like watching the news these days because of "depressing news reports".

"The government works slowly. That's the case for all the governments. But the people, who are unhappy and aggrieved, can be manipulated (by unwanted elements)... one has to control one's behaviour and language. Terror can't help you be in power for long," he said, citing the fall of Soviet Russia.

Be thoughtful and give preference to the country's good. We (the RSS) have never backed any particular political party and we never will

Significantly, the RSS chief also refrained from appealing to people to vote for any particular party, saying that the outfit never backed any political party.

"Don't attach importance to caste, region and other considerations while voting. Be thoughtful and give preference to the country's good. We (the RSS) have never backed any particular political party and we never will," Bhagwat told RSS workers.

In 2013, the RSS under Bhagwat had taken an unusually open political line. All RSS members were asked to consolidate behind the BJP before the 2014 elections.

Last week, RSS general secretary Bhaiyyaji Joshi had said, "We all know who is the king at present. In today's democracy, the leaders of government are considered kings... In today's democracy, politicians think of themselves as supreme. They think like this and even we have accepted it... But it is a fact that satta (power) cannot bring change in society."

According to an RSS member from Nagpur, Bhagwat and Joshi have made it clear that the Modi government cannot expect the RSS's complete backing in the upcoming elections.

"They will make Modi and Shah come and beg to them. No one is allowed to grow bigger than the organization in Sangh Parivar. Modi tried it but the RSS knows how to control individuals. Don't forget, Modi is only one of the many RSS Swayamsevaks," the person told HuffPost India on condition of anonymity.

With Lok Sabha elections just months away, the remarks by both the RSS chief and general secretary within a span of one week don't augur well for the Modi government.

BENGALURU, Karnataka— Apple CEO Tim Cook has been talking up privacy, user data, and why the company won't see security breaches like the ones Facebook has experienced again and again this year.

The company has launched a new privacywebsite that explains what the company's privacy and security settings in simple language, and also provides tips on how to secure your device, effective passwords, and how to control data sharing.

Privacy is finally becoming a selling point for the company that makes some of the most expensive phones available in India, but can Apple do more?

In India, Apple was locked into a face-off with the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) for a long time, because TRAI wanted the company to implement its Do Not Disturb app to fight spam callers. Apple pointed out that the app was made for Android by developers here in a way that makes use of how Android functions, and doesn't work on iOS.

In response, Apple developed a call and SMS spam reporting feature for iOS 12, which has rolled out to global users around the world, and allowed the DND app without providing access to call records. As this is part of a global rollout, other apps such as Truecaller can also make use of this new feature.

In a conversation with HuffPost India, Apple executives talked about the importance of customer privacy, why encryption of customer's data is a net good, and the role the company can play is stemming the spread of fake news over WhatsApp, a growing concern in India and other parts of the world.

FaceID drove up the use of pass-code

Although Apple did not share the exact numbers, most security experts have frequently pointed out that customers left their phones unlocked rather than even using a simple four-digit pass-code. The addition of TouchID—the fingerprint sensor on the home button of iPhones—drove the use of pass-codes up to around 85%, and on phones which support FaceID—Apple's face-recognition sign-in—the number of people using pass-codes is even higher.

This is significant because the biggest threat model for a typical consumer whose financial and other personal data is stored on the phone, is leaving the device unattended. Since both TouchID and FaceID require a pass-code to enable, even if someone else gains access to your device, unless they have your pass-code, the data should remain secure.

Famously, after the San Bernardino shootings in the USA, America's FBI had asked Apple for access to the accused's phone, which was locked, and the company had refused to break the encryption. Eventually, the FBI gained access to the device, and since then, Apple has worked to increase device security.

The company argues that if it doesn't provide encryption, users who wish to have the feature will still be able to use numerous different tools to accomplish this, and rather than making encryption something that is only benefiting criminals, and people who are highly engaged with security issues, the company is of the opinion that everyone's data should be protected.

Individual privacy means fake news on WhatsApp will be hard to stop

While Fake News in the West is mostly a FaceBook problem, in India instant messaging platforms, particularly WhatsApp, are a major source for misinformation. The Facebook-owned company has tried a number of steps, including adding a "Forwarded" label to show which messages were simply forwarded—and testing limiting how many people forwarded messages can be sent to at one time.

However, it has met with limited success, and the government wants to bring traceability to WhatsApp messages, saying this is required to fight child pornography, and lynchings.

While visiting Bengaluru, Ponnurangam Kumaraguru who formed the Precog Research Group at IIIT-Delhi, and is behind the AASMA social media monitoring tool used by the government, said that WhatsApp's encryption means that it is impossible to preemptively identify fake news, but once it is shared by users, it should be possible to identify, with the goal of containing misinformation.

Apple also agreed that in order to preserve the privacy of users, the company wouldn't be able to control how third parties like WhatsApp are used by customers. Since the WhatsApp data is encrypted, the only way that Apple could actually address fake news would be to view the content before it is sent, on the user's device, which would violate all users' privacy.

Apple can't stop third parties

Although Apple talked a lot about how it has made improvements to its own apps—such as, for example, on-device AI processing of photos to identify people and create smart albums; differential privacy which means that location data is first given in a generalized way, and then specific details are shared depend on what the user wants to do; anti-tracking features on Safari that make it harder for websites to identify individuals—once users are on a third-party application, the amount of control that's possible is obviously less.

Although Apple has taken strict action against companies that violate user privacy, including giants like Facebook, its storefront is a giant marketplace which can be exploited in a number of ways. For that matter, although Apple took digs at Google when pointing out that it was carrying out AI processing on-device, it still continues to offer Google Search as its default option (although users can change settings, and limit tracking even on search).

Last month, Google reportedly paid Apple $9 billion (roughly Rs. 66,172 crore), up from $1 billion in 2014, in order to remain the default search engine on Apple's Safari browser. Google is famously the company that tracks the most data about anyone because of how ubiquitous its services are, and Apple will have to try and find a middle ground between giving customers the services they want, and also ensuring users' privacy going forward.

Boy meets girl. Boy wants to impress girl, but not until her father approves first. That's Trinadha Rao Nakkina's Hello Guru Prema Kosame in a nutshell.

Sounds familiar? Of course it does.

Tollywood's big Dussehra release starring Ram Pothineni, Anupama Parameswaran, Pranitha Subhash and Prakash Raj is an entertaining film that can be enjoyed with the family. Just know that there is nothing new in the movie—it has elements of several Telugu dramas from the past, especially ones from the Dil Raju banner.

When the movie begins, Pothineni's Sanju is racing to beat up a bunch of boys. But thankfully, Nakkina doesn't subject his viewers to the brutal violence seen in many mainstream Telugu movies. When Sanju, who swears by his native Kakinada, accepts a job in Hyderabad, he meets Anu (Parameswaran) on a train. The hero plays a "prank" on her by acting like a creepy stalker in a frankly problematic sequence, but the makers soon move on.

Anu, as expected, lives in the same house that Sanju is about to reside in. And that is when our main man comes into the picture—Prakash Raj as Vishwanath, the protective, conservative father with a heart of gold.

Even with the same mix-and-match concept as movies like Koncham Ishtam Koncham Kashtam, Hello Guru... works mainly due to the entertaining duo of Pothineni and Raj, who carry the film on their shoulders. I couldn't help but recollect Nani and Nagarjuna's camaraderie in the recent release Devadas. The story fell flat, but the combination clicked.

As the emotional but goofy father, Raj aces the role he has enacted many times in his career. His scenes with Pothineni, the lover boy desperate to impress Anu, leave the audience in splits.

Hello Guru... doesn't burden the viewer with an emotional climax, as the director smartly remixes concepts. But having said that, it is impossible to ignore a big flaw.

The character of Anu barely gets any space on the screen. It's only towards the end that the makers decide to turn their attention to the issue of the woman's consent. The Premam actor is barely present in scenes where we actually expect her to step up. The little chemistry between Pothineni and Parameswaran make the viewer wonder how they have fallen for each other.

N. Lingusamy's Sandakozhi 2, starring Vishal, Keerthy Suresh and Varalakshmi Sarathkumar, hits the screens 13 years after the blockbuster Sandakozhi.

Frankly, 13 minutes is all it takes to guess the crux of the sequel and question the point of the film. Even before the hero and his quest for revenge are introduced, it is obvious that Sandakozhi 2 will be a predictable watch.

If you have watched the first movie, there is little to take away from this sequel. Vishal's character belongs to a village where his father Rajkiran, fondly called 'Ayya', has the final say on pretty much everything. The people there believe that the Thiruvizha festival brings rains to their village, but the festival was stopped seven years ago after two groups got into an argument based on caste differences.

While Ayya tries to sort out the problem, the tiff blows up and the resultant brutal slaughter on both sides leads to Pechii (Varalakshmi Sarathkumar) taking an oath to kill Anbu, the last man alive on the other side.

Of course, Ayya will protect Anbu at any cost and Vishal also re-enters the village just in time for the action sequences to play out. Like in Sandakozhi, Vishal's Balu is the soft-spoken member of the family who at first doesn't butt into local politics. But these villages always need a demigod to survive and hence, he is forced to step in.

Sandakozhi 2 fails to build on the engaging drama of the first movie. The screenplay, which reminds us of the Thiruvizha set-up from the first movie, gets monotonous the second time around.

Keerthy Suresh's role is much like Meera Jasmine's in the first part—the only mystery is why the romance angle has to be as drawn out as it is.

Even with a hackneyed plot, the viewer's attention can be held if the scenes are gripping enough. Even the much-hyped character of Pechi (which reminded this reviewer of Shreya Reddy's role in Thimiru) fails to keep the viewer interested for too long.

The sheer amount of blood shed in this movie will make the viewer cringe. While Tamil Nadu's other Dussehra release, Vada Chennai, has smartly choreographed action scenes, the ones in Sandakozhi 2 do not hold the viewer's interest.

NEW DELHI—Union cabinet minister and Bharatiya Janata Party's election in-charge for Rajasthan, Prakash Javadekar, told HuffPost India he was confident his party would return to power in Rajasthan despite opinion polls to the contrary.

A day after the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat demanded that parliament pass a law to pave the way for the construction of the temple for the Hindu deity Ram, Javadekar stuck to party line, saying the BJP supports early resolution of the issue through a court order or mutual understanding between the parties that have gone to court.

Edited excerpts from an interview:`

It has been a fortnight since you took over as the election in-charge of the BJP in Rajasthan. What is the sense you are getting about the prospects for the party in the polls?

I am absolutely happy that we will break the jinx which was there in Rajasthan for the last 20 years—once Congress, once BJP. We will repeat. Bhajapa Firse (BJP Again) — that is the tagline with which we are going ahead. The issue is—there are three things that have changed the whole Rajasthan scenario.

Every election is a new election and there are challenges and there are opportunities also. The challenge was, yes the government did wonderful job but there was little communication gap in communicating it to the people that this is a government which has done it. It's not the bureaucracy which has done it; it's the political leadership which has done it. So that was one aspect. But now we have bridged that gap and now people realise that this was the best government and this has done very good things. And there is basic change in the whole political scenario of interplay of congress and BJP.

In 2014 when Modiji became Prime Ministerial candidate, the BJP had only 6 states and Congress had 16. Now BJP has 19 and Congress has four. Why Congress lost the plot? that's important. Let's understand. It's not a typical calculation of elections which can give you indication of shape of things to come. People have been disenchanted with Congress completely—on its leadership, programs and promises. A mainstream party, Mahatma Gandhi's party, is now become a party of fringe elements.

You are talking about your party-led government's record in governance. But why do we see, now that the election campaign is picking up steam, Ram Mandir back as the point of discourse? RSS Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat said this in his Vijayadashmi speech and recently party president Amit Shah also said Ram Mandir should be constructed before 2019. Obviously it is timed towards state elections.

It's not we. See, because the Congress, Kapil Sibal went in the court and said, that court should hear the plea of dispute which is pending for long after July, 2019. If anybody says, with a political motive, that it should be post-2019 then we are saying only that there has to be justice in time.

It is not an election issue for us. Kapil Sibal made it a plea that it should be (heard), post-July, 2019, in the Supreme Court. We are saying it is a long pending issue which must be solved.

Why is that insistence on getting it resolved before 2019?

It is because it is pending in court for more than 20 years. Actually 40 years. It is a long time. We want a resolution essentially through a court verdict or settlement and understanding between both the communities. By accommodation both the communities should come to a conclusion and there should be no pending litigation. Because that is not coming through, somewhere you have to say —see BJP has always said two things. Either by aapsi samjhauta (mutual understanding) or through court verdict. It should happen and a magnificent temple should come up at the Ram Janmbhoomi at the earliest. So it's not a new stand. It's a consistent stand.

In the beginning of this interview you indicated that the mood of the Rajasthan voters has changed. Are you saying that there is no anti-incumbency anymore?

See there will always be part of anti-incumbency sometimes against the local MLA. But this time the work done is not only Bhamashah. There are so many schemes. Rajasthan is known for lack of enough water. Water scarcity. Now this time Mukhyamantri Jal Swavalamban Yojana has raised the water table from 5 feet to 30 feet in different districts. It's huge.

How do you then respond to the opinion polls which show the BJP is going to lose in Rajasthan?

See, the opinion polls are an evolving science. And no party (opinion poll organisations) ever showed that the BSP will ever win. And it won. Thrice. So this happens. And now many polls are going awry in each state election; many times. So, ok. It's an evolving science. We take cue from what has been (said in them). So if there is more challenge, we are working more.

When you took charge as poll in charge, it was seen as the central unit of the party taking direct reins of the election campaign. For instance, you have a greater role, as compared to the state unit, in ticket distribution for election candidates. Last time, the state unit had a greater say.

Let me tell you, this is our arrangement of appointing election prabharis. It is a continuous theme of the BJP. In every election we do it, from centre one (party member) goes. It is to help the state unit. To mobilise more effectively. And ticket distribution is always done by the central election committee.

I am asking this because it is being seen as two different campaigns of the BJP in Rajasthan. One by Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and another by party president Amit Shah.

That is a wrong notion. Actually what happened was the CM was already in the tour of Gaurav Yatra. It was public programmes all over. Amitji therefore decided to concentrate on organizational rallies of workers, our various morchas and booth level workers. Because that is finally the strategy (of the) organization, because of which we are winning state after state. So he concentrated on that. Now, he will also come in public rallies, he will also have roadshows, he will also have many things. It begins sometime in November. Some rallies (will be held) even before ticket distribution.

What is your assessment about the impact on the Rajput community's voting inclination after the departure of senior BJP leader Jaswant Singh's son Manvendra Singh from the BJP?

Rajput community or for that matter, Meena, Gurjar, Sainis, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tributes—we don't do community vote bank politics. We respect all communities. We have a good dialogue with all communities. And therefore, if there is any misunderstanding also we will remove. But one person going; he was already a suspended MLA. And for last four and half years, he has not participated in BJP programmes. So his going doesn't make a difference.

11) You mentioned the government's track record about governance while being in power. But BJP's chief minister Vasundhara Raje herself is on record as having said that lynchings happen because of inadequate number of jobs being generated.

Who said this?

Ms. Raje. In July, 2018.

No, no, she must be misquoted. Let me tell you, lynching is the worst crime ever to happen anywhere in the world. And it has not started in 2014. Even in 1984, 3000 Sikhs were butchered, that was the worst kind of lynching. Then in Bhagalpur, hundreds of Muslims were burnt alive. That was also lynching. Then kar sevaks, 52, were burnt alive, that was also lynching. And so all lynching is bad. Every lynching is bad, condemnable and must be punished. Guilty must be brought to book. And this time, lynching has happened in Tamil Nadu, Andhra, Kerala, West Bengal, Assam, everywhere. It is not only in Rajasthan that something is happening. But every lynching instance is bad, we condemn it, and we have asked states to take action and many states have taken prompt action. That is how even Rajasthan has booked all the culprits in all the cases.

Are you concerned about the question of jobs? That was the second part of my question. Your manifesto of 2013 said 15 lakh jobs will be generated.

I don't relate the issue of jobs to lynching. No.

We have been producing jobs, we are the fastest growing economy so there is natural growth in jobs at the macro level. Then there are other opportunities created with MUDRA loans made very easily available without any guarantee. So 14 crore youths have been given MUDRA loans and they have started their own enterprises; they are earning a decent livelihood. This Congress' criticism of Pakoda is also very bad because they are demeaning, actually insulting the poor who want to live with self-respect. We are helping every poor (person) to have that (self-respect).

In Rajasthan, it is 44 lakh those who have got MUDRA loans.

On MGNREGA, the actual expenditure in 2013-14, during UPA regime, was Rs. 27, 000 crore. Now it is more than Rs. 56, 000 crore. So when it is doubled, jobs also grow, in that category also.

All put together, there are tremendous job opportunities created (in) industrial, non-industrial, agriculture and service sectors. All kinds of jobs are growing.

[The MGNREGA numbers cited by the minister are inaccurate. The most recent allocation for the MNREGA in 2016-17 is Rs 48,000 crores, while the allocation for the scheme in 2013-14 was Rs 33,000 crores of which 95% of funds, or Rs 31,350 crores, were spent according to the Accountability initiative.

The number of Mudra loans sanctioned in Rajasthan over three years is 50 lakh, data on the actual number of loans disbursed is unavailable.]

As the poll campaign now picks up, with big rallies of the Prime Minister, what are the major issues for you as an incumbent party that you will raise?

We are raising only one issue. That is, development, development, development. Development of all. Even the poor person has the right to be prosperous. And all have the right to live with all human rights. And everybody will be respected. We are telling the taxpayers that you are paying tax, you are serving someone who is underprivileged. See, we believe, not like others; they are believing in distributing poverty, we believe in distributing prosperity.

Amritsar, Oct 20 (PTI) Seven of the 70-odd people injured in a train accident near here were in critical conditions, officials said Saturday.

At least 61 people were killed Friday evening after a crowd of Dussehra revellers that had spilled onto railway tracks while watching the burning of a Ravana effigy was run over by a train near Joda Phatak here.

The injured were admitted to different hospitals in Amritsar.

"Among the injured, the conditions of seven persons continue to remain critical," an official said.

According to the officials, many of the deceased were yet to be identified.

A forensic science team has reached the site, they said.

The Punjab government has ordered a probe into the incident.

The incident took place on Friday evening when at least 300 people were watching the 'Ravana dahan' at a ground adjacent to the tracks.

As the effigy was lit and fireworks went off, a section of the crowd started retreating towards the tracks where a large number of people were already standing to watch the event, officials had said.

A video of the tragic incident showed that several people were run over by a train when they were watching the burning of an effigy of demon king Ravana, as part of the Dussehra celebrations.

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, who has postponed his Israel trip, will reach Amritsar this morning to assess the situation and meet the families of the victims, officials said.

All offices and educational institutions will remain closed on Saturday in view of the tragedy.

Friday night, Union Minister of State for Railways Manoj Sinha, along with Punjab BJP chief Shwait Malik, visited the site to take stock of the situation, officials said.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, Kerala—The #MeToo movement has sought to convey just how commonplace sexual violence is, by making it easier for survivors of sexual violence to speak out. But a press conference in Kerala last week struck a jarring and discordant note.

A discussion chaired by the Women in Cinema Collective (WCC) turned into a steady hour-and-a-half of harassment and aggression from media persons who had gathered to hear them speak.

"This is a gossip session!", "Isn't this just blackmail?" cried several male reporters in the room.

"Give us a name, give us a name, we want a name!" they interrupted, shouting down women who sought to speak.

The WCC had organised the event as they felt that the leadership of A.M.M.A. — the Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes — had let down women actors: AMMA had not supported an actor who had been abducted and brutally assaulted in a moving vehicle on 17 February 2017; the leadership continued to support Dileep, the influential 'mega star' in Malayalam cinema who has been accused of masterminding the assault, and has continued to be active in films. WCC also sought to draw attention to the need for a mechanism within the Malayalam film industry to address instances of sexual violence.

The press conference was telecast live on most regional channels, providing a startling look behind the scenes at the harassment women face for speaking up about—ironically—harassment.

"We weren't expecting this hostility. We had gathered there to share our sense of grief and disappointment," said veteran film editor and curator Beena Paul.

"The focus seemed to be on getting us to give up names for a sensationalist headline. There seemed to be an enormous expectation that we'd keep them entertained!" added actor Parvathy, who was the target of an online harassment campaign last year after she criticised some misogynist dialogues spoken by superstar Mammootty in a movie.

Archana Padmini, a curator and actor, summarised it as "a gathering of award-winning, talented artistes being insulted simply because we were women".

Double standards

This attack by the journalists on the WCC members was in stark contrast to the press conference that Mohanlal, the influential actor/producer and current president of A.M.M.A, had given on 9 July 2018 to address these issues. As one can see in the video, the reporters laugh and joke with him, do not interrupt, speak respectfully—indeed, almost reverently—and his many evasive and vague answers are unchallenged.

It was only social media that called out some of his proclamations such as "There is no male domination in the Malayalam industry, I have never noticed it!" and meaningless statements such as, "I am with the survivor, and I pray for Dileep".

At one point during the WCC press conference, director and actor Revathi shared an incident from a movie set about 25 years ago, where a 17-year-old girl had taken refuge in her room at night, saying that someone had been knocking repeatedly on her door, asking her to open it. Revathi said that they both waited the night out in fear, and that she wanted to make sure that nobody ever had to go through an experience like that again.

As Paul, the film curator pointed out, the male journalists present there didn't seem to care about the larger point.

"They began threatening Revathi: 'You can go to jail for this!', 'You are liable to be punished by the law for hiding this!', 'An FIR will be filed against you', 'Who was the man?' 'Whose film was it?' 'Which year?' 'Haven't you heard of POCSO?' That became their only focus. They were interested in diverting the discussion away from what we were trying to say. There were three or four women journalists in the room who also couldn't get a word in over all the shouting." Paul said.

Padmini, a member of the WCC, hadn't even planned to speak that day.

But as the aggressive cries of "Give us a name!" continued, she took to the stage and did just that. She named Sherin Stanley, a production controller who had sexually harassed her on the sets of the Mammooty film Pullikkaran Staraa. Her complaints to the Film Employees Federation of Kerala (FEFKA), the association for technicians in the industry, B. Unnikrishnan, who was its president, and to director Sibi Malayil had been unaddressed for over a year.

Unnikrishnan said soon after the press conference that legal action would be initiated against Padmini and the WCC for making false allegations against him, and that Stanley had been suspended the moment he received the complaint. But a couple of days later, when it became clear that Stanley was still active in the industry, Unnikrishnan did a complete 180, saying that he would not be filing a case. Stanley was also, finally, suspended.

The WCC and its actions set a new benchmark for gender justice in an industry that thrives on hero worship, and few dare to speak up against male superstars like Mohanlal.

But as Paul points out, "The media has been very supportive of the WCC and its work. We have always been grateful for that."

The reports that came out about the press conference later that day lacked the venom of the journalists who were present there, but the live telecast gave millions of viewers a glimpse into the hostility and sexism that women in the industry face.

Dileep, A.M.M.A and a long wait

The WCC said that they had waited patiently for months for A.M.M.A's leadership to respond to their demands for justice, to no avail. The organisation was formed in February 2017 as a response to the attack on one of their members by — it is alleged — Dileep, another male actor.

A.M.M.A. had refused to suspend Dileep from the organisation until he was arrested on 10 July 2017. When he was finally released after 85 days and four denied bail attempts, a tussle swiftly erupted within the organisation to reinstate him. Dileep was welcomed back into A.M.M.A. exactly a day after Mohanlal was appointed its new president, on 24 June 2018.

This prompted the survivor to leave A.M.M.A. the same month, adding in a letter that "Prior to this, this actor has snatched away opportunities of acting from me. When I had complained at that time, A.M.M.A. did not act seriously on my complaint. And when such a terrible incident happened, an organisation that I am also a part of tried to protect the man who has been accused of the crime. Realising that there is no purpose in being a part of such an organisation, I hereby resign."

Actors Rima Kallingal and Remya Nambeesan, and actor-director Geetu Mohandas also tendered their resignations in protest.

"Essentially, all we are saying is that we would like to work without being sexually assaulted," said Padmini.

In 2016, a study by the Oak Foundation had found that the gender ratio in the Indian film industry is one woman for every 6.2 males. In addition, only one in ten film directors (9.1%) are women. The report, titled Investigation on the Impact of Gender Representation in Indian Films, also found that fewer women go to theatres in India than men, primarily due to concerns about their safety.

A couple of days after the WCC press meet, veteran actors Siddique and KPAC Lalitha spoke out against the collective at a controversial press conference held, interestingly, on the sets of what was reportedly a Dileep film. Siddique belittled their claims, and threatened action against those members of A.M.M.A. who had criticised it.

He responded bizarrely to a statement by director Aashiq Abu and his wife and actor Kallingal that every film their production house took on would have an Internal Complaints Committee with: "That is Aashiq Abu's problem. Aashiq Abu is introducing an ICC. If Aashiq Abu feels that Aashiq Abu's films need an ICC and that complaints should be made to it, then it must be because Aashiq Abu feels that there several of these problems are occurring on Aashiq Abu's sets."

The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act of 2013 clearly mandates that "all workplaces that have 10 employees or more are required to constitute an Internal Committee ("IC") to deal with complaints of sexual harassment". This, of course, has never been enforced in the Malayalam film industry, which is about a decade shy of turning 100 years old.

But on 17 October 2018, the Kerala High Court issued a notice to A.M.M.A., the state government and the Department of Women and Child Development on a writ petition moved by the WCC about establishing a mechanism to address cases of sexual harassment.

Siddique had also added that the abuse and rape threats crowding the WCC's social media pages were justified, and clearly an expression of how the public feels about the organisation. Lalitha, currently the chairperson of Kerala Sangeetha Nadaka Academy, said that if the actors who left A.M.M.A.— which includes the survivor—apologised to the organisation, it would consider reinstating them.

A.M.M.A. is now trying to distance itself from these statements, and establish that these are not representative of the views of the organisation as a whole. But nevertheless, the press conference by the two actors did give the public a glimpse into the archaic and problematic notions and structures the WCC is up against.

A.M.M.A, not AMMA

One of the most striking parts of WCC's press conference was that the actors refused to say the name A.M.M.A. as 'Amma', meaning mother in Malayalam. They kept spelling it out as A, M, M, A; the rejection of the acronym, and the shift to initialism seemed to signify that they do not wish to associate the organisation with the concepts of maternal warmth that 'Amma' signifies.

There are people who would like the status quo to continue, but sorry, time's up. They've been feeding off our silence all this while

"They like to claim that we are all one big happy family, a community. No, we are not, and we will not pretend any longer," said Parvathy.

WCC's historic meet stands linked to the assertion of women's voices against gender discrimination, challenging the silence and inaction which tacitly enables sexual violence. They face severe challenges, facing off as they are against a well-oiled machinery of patriarchy and power, but it is also clear that they are here to stay.

"There are people who would like the status quo to continue, but sorry, time's up. They've been feeding off our silence all this while," says Parvathy.

Before #MeToo, and after

The survivor of the February 2017 assault had approached the police, even though the assailants had threatened to release videos and images of the attack if she were to do so. This extraordinarily courageous act was well before the #MeToo movement had taken off in anywhere in the world, and she was operating in a world where no one really talked about their experiences of being sexually violated, and the likelihood of her being heard or having her accusers convicted were even less than it is today.

To put both the response of the media as well as A.M.M.A.'s snub of the #MeToo movement in context, let's take a look at some of the other responses from around the country after prominent men were accused of sexual harassment: actor Aamir Khan and producer Kiran Rao backed out of Subhash Kapoor's latest film after accusations against the director resurfaced; Akshay Kumar cancelled the shoot of Housefull 4 until director Sajid Khan stepped down; production house Phantom Films was disbanded after Vikas Bahl, one of the founders, was accused of sexual assault; Pappu Venugopala Rao resigned as secretary of the Madras Music Academy; Tanmay Bhat and Gursimran Khamba, two of All India Bakchod's founders, have stepped down, the former for his inaction regarding complaints from women, and the latter because of accusations of harassment; veteran journalist K.R. Sreenivas of The Times of India has resigned and C Gouridasan Nair of The Hindu has been sent on 'administrative leave'; Prashant K Jha of Hindustan Times has stepped down as Bureau Chief; Chintan Ruparel of Terribly Tiny Tales has resigned; actor-filmmaker Rajat Kapoor and singers Kailash Kher and Raghu Dixit have issued apologies; and even the Minister of State for External Affairs and former editor MJ Akbar has resigned.

In Kerala, Dileep has at least two big-budget projects releasing soon, one of which is an Unnikrishnan project. Earlier this month, actor and MLA Mukesh laughed away accusations made against him by casting director Tess Joseph, stating that he "did not remember" the complainant. Siddique, in his press conference, criticised both Aamir Khan and Akshay Kumar for walking out of their movies, and reiterated that A.M.M.A. would never deny Dileep job opportunities.

But the uproar seems to have made an impact. On Friday, 19 October, Mohanlal announced at a press conference that Dileep has resigned from A.M.M.A.

No regrets

"I miss being an actor," says Parvathy. "This fight has consumed our lives. But we will persist because we want to do the right thing. All we're asking is that they meet us halfway. But the most damning silence has been from people who can afford to take a stand with us, who have the power and privilege to speak, but will not."

Who accounts for all the creative energy we've lost because we've set out to fight this?

As an organisation that is trying to use social media creatively to create awareness, the online harassment and intimidation are also taking an enormous toll on the members. The WCC's social media manager, Sangeetha Janachandran, had spoken up at the press meet about going through their pages filled with death threats and violence. "At least 100 times every day, I am verbally abused."

"Who accounts for all the creative energy we've lost because we've set out to fight this?" asks Padmini.

Paul confirms that everyone associated with the WCC is losing out on work, and that there are producers and directors refusing to get involved in films with WCC members in them.

"But don't get me wrong, I do not have a single regret," says Paul. "We've finally got people talking about the double standards in the industry, and that's a huge change. We aren't here to destroy, we are here to create. To create a new way of thinking, loving, and working."

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