Actress courts controversy over 'missing husband' video

Malayalam actress Asha Sharath has courted controversy over a video posted on the social media seeking public help to trace her missing husband.

The video posted recently as part of the promotion of her upcoming movie was widely misinterpreted as a real one and hence it triggered a barrage of criticism as people accused her of creating a misleading campaign on social media. It is also widely criticised that such videos would affect genuine distress calls made by individuals on social media.

An advocate lodged a petition with the Idukki police seeking legal action for spreading the misleading video. The police are likely to take further actions on the petition filed by an advocate only after seeking legal opinion, said sources.

In an about one-minute selfie video, Asha informs in a very emotional tone that her husband is missing over the last 45 days and seeks public help to share any information regarding him to the Kattapana police station in Idukki district. His name is Zacharia and is a drums artiste. At the end of the video, which was shot in a moving vehicle, the name of the movie 'Evidey' (Where?) is shown.

After the incident invited criticism, Asha reacted that the promo video was uploaded with proper information that it was a promo of a film. If someone misunderstood, I tender my apology, she said.

There were also allegations that a manipulated version of the video, by deleting the information that it is a promo, was also widely circulated from certain quarters on the video.

An officer of the Kattappana police station said that several people had called up the station to inquire about the incident. That's how the police came to know about Asha's video that was being circulated on social media.