Post Empuran Mohanal Award a Shocker to Kerala BJP

 I had expected Dharmendra to get the Dadasaheb Phalke Award. Reason being son Sunny Deol ex BJP MP from Gurudaspur. They threw a google that bowled me out. BJP in Kerala might claim credit for Giving Mohanlal the Dadasaheb Phalke Award but rank and file and those not committed to any politics, it has come as a shocker. Mohanlal starrer Empuran also produced by him was attacked severely by BJP and seen as a anti Hindutva film. In fact , Lal apologized for hurting the sentiments. Even his BJP friends like Major Ravi took potshots against him. The birthday of PM Modi saw Lal among the few from Kerala filmdom sending greetings. The award had seen people like Mithun Chakraborty who joined BJP and next getting this honour. Actors like Asha Parekh, Waheeda Rahman, Shashi Kapoor and Manoj Kumar who are single dimensional actors getting this honour was seen amusing to film buffs.

Shift to giving this honour  reserved for people who are retired- semi retired and definitely not a contender at box office. Started with Rajinikanth who has openly stated that he was never aiming for artistic excellence in short awards but box office appeal getting the Dadasaheb Phalke was seen purely as a gift from political bosses. BJP that controls the Information Ministry has for second time in its history repeated it by giving  Mohanlal the Dadasaheb Phalke Award  , whose box office rating is currently  is the Rs 200 crore club. Here however we are not talking behind the back like in case of Rajinikanth about his BJP links .  He has on many time got the national award and many times he missed it by a whisker. He had invested in films like Vanaprasatham.

The film premiered at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival on 21 May 1999, where it was selected in the Un Certain Regard section, and was theatrically released in France on 13 October 1999 and in India in January 2000. The film was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the American Film Institute's 1999 AFI Fest (Los Angeles International Film Festival). It won the Special Prize of the Jury at the Istanbul International Film Festival and the FIPRESCI prize at the Mumbai International Film Festival. The film won three awards at the 47th National Film Awards —Best Feature Film, Best Actor (Mohanlal), and Best Editing (A. Sreekar Prasad), and six awards at the 1999 Kerala State Film Awards, including Best Director and Best Actor (Mohanlal). In 2014, Vanaprastham was screened retrospective at the 45th International Film Festival of India in the Celebrating Dance in Indian cinema section.

Adoor Gopalkrishnan the first from Kerala to enter the hall of fame and now Mohanlal. We hear voices like Why Madhu was over looked ? Is Madhu as multi dimensional as Lal ? Anyway as Lal says about Empuran attack by BJP , lets talk about present amd not about past or future. Quite right to put Emiran in the back burner. However Mammooty with only a Padma Shri and a string of national award cannot be in BJP wishlist as he is a a CPM man.