Kerala Minister Slams National Award for ‘The Kerala Story’, Alleges Political Bias
Kerala Minister Saji Cheriyan slams National Award to 'The Kerala Story', calls it a political move by the ruling BJP.
Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 2 (PTI) Kerala Cultural Affairs Minister Saji Cheriyan on Saturday vehemently criticised the decision to award national film honours to 'The Kerala Story' and alleged that the recognition to the movie was part of Sangh Parivar's political agenda.
The National Film Awards for the year 2023 was announced by jury head and filmmaker Ashutosh Gowariker in Delhi on Friday.
Filmmaker Sudipto Sen won the Best Director award for his film 'The Kerala Story', which also received the award for Best Cinematography.
The film had courted controversy for its portrayal of women in Kerala being forcefully converted and recruited by the terror group Islamic State.
Cheriyan alleged that the Sudipto Sen-directed movie was the one which divides people, spreads hatred in society and insults an entire state. Such a movie was given the national award without meeting any criteria, he said while talking to a TV channel.
"It's a proud achievement that our actors Urvashi and Vijayaraghavan have got awards. But, along with that, how could the recognition be given to the film The Kerala Story? How can an award be given like this? I don't understand on what criteria that the film was chosen for the honour," he said.
Cheriyan alleged that not the value of a movie, but the interest of a section of people was the basis for the award. Such politics by the Sangh Parivar is creating fear among the people of the country.
"Strengthening the circumstance of hatred is the need of the political party which rules the country. To achieve this, they intervene in everything..even in small things. This award was given as part of that. It was a wrong thing," the minister said.
The cultural affairs minister's sharp criticism came a day after Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan slammed the national award to 'The Kerala Story' and accused the jury of betraying the proud tradition of Indian cinema.
Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, V D Satheesan, also criticised the decision to award national honours to 'The Kerala Story', alleging that the BJP government is using the National Film Awards as part of its hate campaign.
(This report has been published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. Apart from the headline, no editing has been done in the copy by ABP Live.)
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