Malayalam actor Anna Rajan breaks down after being mercilessly trolled by Mammootty fans

Rampant sexism, body-shaming, misogyny — all of this has become all-too-familiar when it comes to online trolls. Social media is an excellent way to connect and promote, but quite often, it tends to rear its ugly head as people resort to inexcusable abuse under the garb of anonymity. 

Politicians, journalists, and film personalities have often been victims of abuse on social media, and while many try to brush it off, it eventually has an impact on people. As is the unfortunate reality of our times, it's the women who are most often targeted and are more vulnerable to attacks on social media. Malayalam actor Anna Rajan is the latest to fall prey to rampant sexism online after she was heavily trolled for suggesting Superstar Mammootty play the role of a father. 

In a recent interview with Surya, Rajan was asked if she would prefer to act opposite Dulquer Salman or Mammootty, to which she responded saying she would like to act opposite Dulquer with Mammootty playing his father.  Given that Dulquer and Mammootty are father and son in real life, Rajan's comment shouldn't really come as a shock to anybody. Mammootty's fans, however, didn't quite see it that way and unleashed a barrage of abuse on the actress, through various memes. Some of the fans even went on to call her Ammachi (grandmother) for saying things about their beloved star. 

Unable to take the abuse against her, Anna Rajan did a Facebook LIVE to clarify. Anna said that her comments were blown out of proportion and the actress also broke down midway through the video. 

"I meant it as a joke since it was light-hearted chat show, but people misenterpreted my comment. Some of the media twisted my comments also. I am nobody to insult Mammooka or Dulquer and I have no intentions of insulting the great actor. My sincere apologies to the fans of Mammootty and Dulquer if they were hurt by my statement. I want to act in both Mammookka and Dulquer's movies," she said.

Rajan soon found support from her colleagues in the industry, who came to her defense and lashed out at trolls for online sexism. Actress Rima Kallingal came out in support of Rajan with a Facebook post, wondering why she even had to apologise in the first place. 

"Lichi was trolled for saying a 65 year old actor could play her fathers role? Why?? These people don't think Mammootty can carry that role? I think he can rock it.. like a boss.. remember Kouravar? I think he is a super brilliant actor and we will accept him playing a 70 year old or a 30 year old just like we will accept super brilliant actors like Shobhana, Urvashi and Revathy playing 70 year olds or 30 year olds... alle? How absolutely non-hypocritical, non-sexist, non-ageist lovely beings we are. Who is ruining our name by trolling lichi? What is the problem here? And why and what is Lichi apologising for?," her post read.

Interestingly, there hasn't been a statement yet from either Mammootty or his son Dulquer on the issue.