In this day and age, when women have more than proved their ability to strike it out on their own, as Kavya Madhavan – herself an extremely popular actress – has shown, this idea that she needed to get married to protect her fair name comes as a bit of a contradiction, an anachronism. Why couldn’t he have said he married her because he truly loved her, respected and needed her, or, for that matter, that ‘they’ loved ‘each other’ and wanted to be together for ever? That would have been a fair reason for anyone to base a relationship upon. And perhaps it might have won him more support. Related reading: Reasons why Indian men do not communicate their feelings But sadly, the fact that he needed to state a reason other than that he loved her not only demeans Madhavan as a woman and a person but the very nature of the relationship he is trying to protect. Dileep, a one-time mimicry artiste turned actor, was married to another equally if not more popular Malayalam actress, Manju Warrier, for more than 16 years. They have a daughter. Warrier quietly retired from the acting scene soon after her marriage. About the same time, just as his career began to take off, Dileep and Madhavan were cast together for the first time in her very first film. They soon became a hit pair, much loved and gossiped about, and have acted together in 20–25 films. Since then, despite a short-lived marriage to a Dubai actor turned businessman, she has had an equally successful and brilliant innings in the film industry. Dileep and Warrier, who had begun living apart, announced their separation officially early last year. The rumour mills had a field day conjecturing on Madhavan’s role in the breakup, even as the talented Warrier returned to the industry with a vengeance, as if to make up for lost time. Dileep wasn’t that far off the mark when he unconsciously revealed what lies hidden behind all this show of equal opportunities and women’s empowerment. He belongs to a society that is still moored in patriarchal trappings. Unless that changes on the ground, nothing else will and the fight must go on. So however distasteful it might seem, let’s cut him some slack, shall we?
