For Kerala media, actor Dileep’s arrest is the lead story, not the Amarnath attack

Mondays are typically slow news days and momentum tends to pick up only in the later half of the day. But even as the country reeled under the news of the terrorist attack on Amarnath yatris around 8:20 last night (#AmarnathTerrorAttack began trending almost immediately), the media in Kerala seemed to be fixated elsewhere.

One of the leading actors of Mollywood, Dileep, was arrested on conspiracy charges in the abduction of an actress’ and sexual assault case. 

The news of the arrest and the salacious details surrounding the case seem to have gripped the attention of the state. And the same can be said for today; leading Malayalam and English newspapers all carry Dileep’s arrest, with scant mention of last night’s attack. Headlines such as “Hero turns villain”, “‘D’ fallen hero” and “Dileep arrested” dominated the front pages. Some papers such as Malayalam Manorama and Madhyamam however, did carry the news of the terror attack on their front page, but alongside the actor’s arrest—both were worth of equal attention, it would seem.

However, Mathrubhumi barely even mentioned the attack in today’s edition. One had to dig through to page 5 of the paper’s Delhi edition and page 4 of its Thiruvananthapuram edition to find a snippet that read, “Kashmir terror attack: Seven Amarnath pilgrims killed”. 

But the Ernakulam edition of the paper sees no mention of the terror attack at all. Dileep however, gets two full pages, and much creative wordplay, ”Prathi Nayakan” implying a reel life hero turned villain. There is also space dedicated to reactions and responses from the film industry who are all suitably shocked and aghast. Another daily, Deshabhimani also seemed to have given the news from up north a miss. The only story other worthy of merit on their front page other than Dileep was the death of eight youths in Nagpur as they took a selfie.

Strangely enough, national dailies such as the Times of India and the New Indian Express’ Kerala editions carried the actor’s arrest as their lead story unlike their metro city editions that did extensively cover the attack.

The arrest of a popular and beloved actor is news, certainly, but given the nature of the attack in Amarnath, it seems an odd editorial choice to eschew it completely.