Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday sharply criticised the decision to award national film honours to “The Kerala Story”, directed by Sudipto Sen, accusing the jury of betraying the proud tradition of Indian cinema.Leader of the Opposition in the State 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.
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.
“We register our strong protest against this action. Every Keralite, and indeed every believer in democracy across the country, must raise their voice against this injustice. We must unite against the politics that seeks to turn art into a weapon for fostering communalism,” Vijayan said in a statement here.
He said that by granting awards to a film built on falsehoods with the aim of defaming Kerala and spreading communalism, the award jury had insulted the proud tradition of Indian cinema, which has long stood for communal harmony and national upliftment.
“In doing so, they are advancing the Sangh Parivar’s agenda of turning cinema into a weapon for implementing a communal agenda,” the Chief Minister said.
He, however, hailed the achievements of Malayalam cinema when the 71st National Film Awards were announced, calling it a “remarkable success”.