"Marriage is not a business": Mohanlal shares a strong message against dowry practice

Superstar has joined the No Dowry Campaign by sharing a clip from his upcoming film, Aarattu with a strong message against dowry practice. This video comes in light of multiple deaths of young women who have been subjected to harassment for dowry .Sharing the clip, Mohanlal wrote, "Say No to Dowry. Let’s strive forward and create a Kerala where there’s justice and equality for women. #Equality #Aaraattu @unnikrishnanb (sic)."In the video, Mohanlal in a green shirt can be seen talking to young women. He asked them not to worry as he will be there with them. He said, "Did you tell these people that you do not want marriage and that you wish to complete school and stand on your own feet? This is my advice. Marriage should not be the ultimate aim of women. Being self-reliant is the need." Towards the end of the video, we hear Mohanlal talking against dowry. He said, "Marriage is sustained by mutual respect and love from both sides. It is not a business. Do not take or give dowry. Say no to dowry."

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For the unversed, last week, the shocking death of a medical student Vismaya shook the country.  Her WhatsApp conversation with a cousin suggests that she was a victim of domestic abuse. In her WhatsApp chat, which her family shared with the media, Vismaya alleged that her husband did not like the car gifted by her father as dowry and used to beat her over that.In the shocking chats, the woman also alleged that she was dragged by her hair and stamped on the face over dowry especially over the car by Kumar, a motor vehicle department employee. He used to verbally abuse her father, saying that he deserved more dowry according to his stature but got only very little, the woman also charged in the chat. Her father, Thrivikraman Nair, said that the family had given 100 sovereigns of gold and over one acre land besides a car worth Rs 10 lakh as dowry to Kumar during their wedding last year." But, he did not like the car and wanted Rs 10 lakh as cash instead of it. As I said it was not possible, he used to torture my daughter. He had beaten Vismaya in front of us after coming to our home during midnight last January," an emotional Nair told a TV channel. He said his daughter would not have taken this drastic step and suspected that Kumar might have murdered her.