Producer Sandra Thomas alleges death threat

Producer Sandra Thomas has accused a production controller in the Malayalam film industry of issuing a death threat to her.

She told the media on Friday that production controller Reni Joseph had allegedly called her over phone on March 20, 2025 and threatened her in response to her statements related to the changing roles of production controllers in film industry. She said she had to block his number after he repeated the threats. Though she had filed a complaint before the police, no action had been taken so far, she alleged.

‘Probe progressing’

The Palarivattom police, which had registered a first information report based on her complaint, said on Friday that the investigation was progressing.

The Production Executives’ Union affiliated to the Film Employees Federation of Kerala issued a communication on Friday stating that they had suspended Mr. Joseph from the primary membership of the union after coming across media reports on the death threats he had allegedly issued to Ms. Thomas. The union had also suspended Mukesh Thripunitura, another production controller, for issuing similar threats against her.

Ms. Thomas accused the federation leadership of protecting those who had threatened her. She said action was taken against them only after she revealed the incident to the media.

Union’s response

The communication issued by the production executives’ union said that Mr. Joseph was earlier warned against making such remarks.

Ms. Thomas had said in an interview that the role of production controllers warranted a change as they were now acting as managers of artistes.

Published - June 06, 2025 06:54 pm IST