Parvathy Thiruvothu on Playing a Police Officer in ‘Pradhama Drishtiya Kuttakkar’ and Speaking Out About Misogyny Despite Scrutiny: ‘I Enjoy Watching Patriarchy Fall Apart’

Indian actor Parvathy Thiruvothu has spent two decades fighting the system from outside it – both on screen and off. In “Pradhama Drishtiya Kuttakkar” (“Prima Facie Guilty”), the Shahad Nilambur-directed thriller now running in theaters, she’s finally on the inside, portraying a police officer for the first time in a Malayalam film. But the actor […] Parvathy Thiruvothu discusses her first uniformed police role in 'Pradhama Drishtiya Kuttakkar' and the state of Malayalam film industry activism. Indian actor Parvathy Thiruvothu has spent two decades fighting the system from outside it – both on screen and off. In “Pradhama Drishtiya Kuttakkar” (“Prima Facie Guilty”), the Shahad Nilambur-directed thriller now running in theaters, she’s finally on the inside, portraying a police officer for the first time in a Malayalam film.

But the actor still feels she’s living under constant judgment after speaking out against misogyny in Malayalam cinema nearly a decade ago. “I loved it,” Thiruvothu says of playing a character embedded inside a state institution for once. “I’ll tell you why, because most of the time people don’t understand what it is like to stay within a rotten structure and try to change it.” Thiruvothu, whose credits include “Bangalore Days,” “Take Off,” “Uyare” and “Virus,” has