TRIVANDRUM, 17 October 2004 — After Bollywood actresses Sreedevi and Amisha Patel, it’s the turn of Meera Jasmine, the south Indian star who bagged this year’s national award for the best actress, to lodge a complaint with the police against her own parents.
In her complaint, the teenage star said her parents harassed her by spreading malicious stories after looting her of all the money she earned from highly successful films like Run and Ayutha Ezhuthu.
Deputy Inspector General (DIG) R. Srilekha said the traumatized girl called on her late Friday night at her residence and narrated her “ordeal”. She also complained that her parents insulted her “guru”, 58-year-old Malayalam filmmaker Lohitadas, by leveling baseless allegations against him.
The DIG advised her to meet her at her Marine Drive office in the morning to record the complaint. The star was profusely weeping as she arrived at the DIG’s office. “At first I could not recognize the famous face. She appeared almost on the brink,” she said.
Soon, a large contingent of photographers arrived from the nearby press club. She ran out through the backdoor but her attempts to catch a cab failed.
She was led to her car under heavy police protection through the ever-growing crowd. “She seemed totally upset. We have promised to take appropriate action,” the DIG said.
There were reports that Jasmine left her house in Cochin recently and started living with Lohitadas in Bangalore. She alleged that these kinds of reports were being spread by her own sisters through the Tamil and Telugu media to tarnish her image.
Jasmine was introduced by Lohitadas through his Soothradharan in 2001. Soon she made several hits in Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada and went on to bag several prestigious awards. Jasmine said her family had bought a 40-bed hospital in Calicut and a luxury flat in Cochin using her money. “They have left me. I don’t have my papa, mom and my sisters now. I’m all alone”. Denying reports that he was cohabiting with the actress, the director said she shared with him a “father-daughter bondage”. He said he had nothing to do with the complaint lodged by Jasmine with the police against her family. “It’s a problem within the family,” he said.
His assistant Blessy, now a much-acclaimed director, saw the girl in a church near her house in Tiruvalla, Kerala and introduced to him. Jasmine used to acknowledge his role in molding the actress in her in almost every interview she gives to the media.
The parents, meanwhile, said they wanted their daughter not to be misguided by the “guru”. They also wanted her to end her film career, enter wedlock and settle down.
“This so-called guru was fleecing her for long. He owes her 1.2 million rupees and still he collects money from her every month. I’m keeping the documents of her properties to prevent him from cheating her,” her father Joseph Philip said.
He also asked her to reveal details of her assets. “Did she pay tax for all her assets?” he asked.
