Left out of the picture

The opening event of the 22nd International Film Festival of Kerala on Friday, though devoid of ceremonial programmes, was nonetheless memorable with a candlelight tribute to Ockhi victims followed by a power-packed speech by Prakash Raj.

The stage was graced by the likes of legendary actor Madhabi Mukherjee, director Aparna Sen, Oscar-winning sound designer Resul Pookutty and state award-winning actress Rajisha Vijayan. The absence of one person was very conspicuous — of Surabhi Lakshmi, who, through her performance in Minnaminungu, brought home the National Award for Best Actress this time, after 14 long years.  

Surabhi was nowhere in Thiruvananthapuram; she was in Narikkuni, her hometown, just back from the shoot of Selin’s Tovino Thomas-starrer Theevandi. Ask her why she wasn’t seen at the festival and the actress says, “I didn’t get a delegate pass; I tried applying, but couldn’t get one. I had asked Kamal sir (Chalachitra Academy chairman) and he told me that he would ask someone to call me, but nobody did.”

However, the delegate pass is the least of her concerns and she admits that she didn’t follow up. That she wasn’t invited is a lesser pain. In a sombre voice, she says, “I don't know about the procedures or if Meera Jasmine was invited to a stage like IFFK when she got the National Award. But this was a national recognition an actress won after nearly one-and-a-half decades. My movie didn’t even get a platform; that is more painful.”  

A parallel screening of Minnaminungu is being planned in Thiruvananthapuram at 2.30 pm on Tuesday at Lenin Balavadi, next to the IFFK main venue Tagore Theatre.

However, Surabhi says she doesn’t want to sound arrogant or greedy. “It’s not that I am trying prove that I am above all. Many had told me that we would watch the film at IFFK. Though we expected that our movie would get a screening space at IFFK, that didn’t happen. Even during the release, it was hurriedly pushed out of the theatres. With no favourable scene for distribution or screening, small films like ours are turned down everywhere. There was a last-minute inclusion of a category called ‘Films of Identity and Space’ in which even an Indian film made in 2013 was included. Ours too, fell under the same category; they could have easily included Minnaminungu,” she explains. 

When asked about the allegations, director Kamal says that no one was invited to the festival as there was no inaugural ceremony. “If she claims she hadn’t got the delegate pass, I’m sorry, no one can personally hand it over to her at her home. The passes are ready here and she could collect it any time if she comes here. All these are just allegations. There is this festival NFFK, National Film Festival of Kerala, organised by the Academy every year where National Award winners are honoured. Anyone who was on the dais, including yesteryear actress Sheela and Rajisha Vijayan, were not invited delegates. They were there because they had come to the festival. All the printed invites are lying in the office. With no official ceremony, how could we have invited anyone?” he asks. He adds that National Award winners Salim Kumar or Suraj Venjaramood, weren’t invited in the previous years.

Regarding Minnaminungu being denied a screening space, Kamal says, according to the rules, a movie which doesn’t get selected in the competition category won’t be screened under any other category. “If I choose Minnaminungu for screening, bypassing the rules, someone can sue us. Would that be fine?” he asks.  

Surabhi says she had expected this. “I know they will have hundreds of reasons to not screen my movie at the IFFK; but there is only reason for them to screen Minnaminungu — this National Award.” 

The organisation of women members of the film fraternity, Women in Cinema Collective (WCC), has opened a stall at one of the festival venues with the tagline ‘Equal Space, Equal Opportunity’. When asked about the denial of opportunity to Surabhi and her movie at the fest, Rima Kallingal, a member of the outfit, expressed sadness over the turn of events. “I am really sad that Surabhi isn’t here. She deserved to be on the stage with the dignitaries; it was such a proud moment for all of us when she won the National Award. She must be the one to be the most celebrated person here at this festival. I am really disappointed that she is not here among us at this prestigious event,” she says.  

This year, the Chalachitra Academy stresses on 89 years of Malayalam cinema, with the IFFK signature film itself ‘welcoming 90 years’. With allegations like these cropping up, it is also a time for introspection, to know who all are left out in the celebrations.