Santosh Thundiyil, cinematographer of the recently-released Neerali is the latest to voice support to Mohanlal in the Kerala State Film Awards row. Thundiyil joins the likes of director Kamal and Oscar winner Resul Pookutty, who found nothing wrong with Mohanlal being invited to be chief guest at the ceremony.
Controversy erupted when reports surfaced that Kerala Cultural Affairs minister AK Balan had planned to invite Mohanlal as chief guest. Director Dr Biju, one of the first people to react, demanded, through a Facebook post, that artists “who were politically aware and had cultural values” boycott the award ceremony over Mohanlal’s attempt to reinstate rape accused actor Dileep into the Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes (AMMA). “Absence was as good a political stand” was his take on the issue.
Through a press release issued later, more than 100 prominent names, including directors Rajiv Ravi, Siddharth Siva, Geethu Mohandas and Dr Biju, actors Prakash Raj, Reema Kallingal and Sajitha Madathil, and writers such as Sethu, NS Madhavan and Sachidanandan demanded that the Kerala Government follow the National Awards ceremony model and have the Chief Minster distribute awards to winners, rather than get an actor to do the same.
Santosh Thundiyil, of Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and Krrish fame, clarified during an interview to the Indian Express that “I’ve been hearing and seeing things I haven’t said before. Some of the media houses have falsely reported that I’m against Mohanlal. When I was contacted to discuss the format of the awards ceremony, there was no mention of Mohanlal’s name. This petition is only against the idea of calling someone from the film fraternity as chief guest.”
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Prakash Raj too denied signing a petition demanding that Mohanlal not be part of the function. Director Kamal, Chairman of the Kerala Sahitya Akademi, termed the petition as a political move and said that he wouldn’t oppose it if the Government invited Mohanlal for the ceremony.
Resul Pookutty, talking to Silverscreen, said: “I don’t understand how inviting a stalwart such as Mohanlal diminishes the ceremony.” He said the argument came from a group that considered itself intellectually superior.
Meanwhile, Mohanlal denied having received an invitation to the ceremony.
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