The film industry seems to be rallying behind director Kamal, who was attacked by BJP leader A.N. Radhakrishnan who went to the extent of asking him to move to Pakistan. Young director Rajeev Ravi calls the remark a blunder arising out of stupidity. “Even those within the BJP have opposed it, it was that stupid,” says Rajeev. “They must have realised such posturing will not work in a place like ours. Not just the CPI(M) even ordinary people will react against such comments.”
On whether it is becoming a must for creative people to align with a political party, he replies in the negative. “Not at all. I was in SFI and my dad was a partyman. So I had worked with some of the current communist leaders when I was a student. Kamal sir belongs to a CPI family. But in Kerala, there is no compulsion that an artiste should align with a party.
In Mumbai on the other hand, without the support of Shiv Sena or Raj Thackeray’s party, it is difficult to survive for industry people. They even help strike financial deals. There is no such situation or extortion yet here in Kerala. In fact, in the 80s, many artistes used to declare that they are left-leaning. That is all gone. People like ONV or Murali contested but that phase is gone. After working outside Kerala, I feel our state is a heaven.”
