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.

Now efforts to discredit Marco Hindi success by using BJP name

 Why is Marco success in Hindi belt now credited to BJP ?  Why suddenly is Marco become obnoxious to many twitter users after two weeks ?.

As collections increase after word of mouth publicity is positive for Marco’s Hindi print and many YouTube channels have started giving positive reviews and added to that Unni Mukundan’s press conference in Mumbai in chaste Hindi has come as an eye opener. No Malayalam actor has such fluency in Hindi and no one has cut ice with Bollywood media like Unni.

The growing success had prompted people like RGV to post about the film. Marco is said to be most violent film of Mollywood and not of Indian cinema. But after release, it turned out to be a Indian sensation and benchmark in Indian cinema  as far as action film is considered.

Mammootty to my knowledge is one who acted in straight Hindi films and that too as hero. Not as sidekick !. If Mammooty wanted to be an addition to a Hindi film , he could have done it but he wanted to be an integral part of it. Secondly, he was not willing to camp in Mumbai and wait for an audition or appointment with Producer’s. He told me when I conveyed to him about a big banner interested in meeting him in their office in Mumbai , he said “ Let them come and meet me. After that I will  even stay at their office”.

Now a section of media is portraying that BJP channels are behind the Marco Hindi success story and that they are saying that he is a Malayalam Superstar and all that is falsehood. Unni is a BJP man and has roots are in Gujarat. He himself in his media interactions clearly said as an introduction that he is not known outside Kerala. He made his debut with Tamil film Seedan which is a remake of Malayalam film Nanadanam. It was the debut film of Prithviraj in Mollywood. In Seedan, Dhanush played a secondary role. Latest Tamil release is Garudan.

 

Thalaivasal Vijay as 1921 rebellion hero runs into censor problem

 

The Malayalam film `1921 – puzha muthal puzha vare’ which has Thalaivasal Vijay playing the pivotal role has been denied certification by censors as it would create communal disharmony in the country.  He plays the role of Haji the man who led the rebellion against the British . Sources say that in the film, Haji and his men plundered the Hindus and murdered them. Vijay had acted as Sree Narayana Guru in Malayalam film Yugapurushan and was last seen in ` Arattu’.

In the first of the series to saffronize Variyan Kunnathu Kunjahammed Haji acted by Thalaivsal Vijay , the hero of  Malabar rebellion of 1921, the film `1921 – puzha muthal puzha vare’ directed by Akbar Ali has been denied certification. The film maker has moved the High Court. Akbar Ali who facing criticism for supporting BJP has named him as Ramasimhan Aboobakker .

 A tweet by BJP politician T G Mohandas said Sir

 

@ianuragthakur

we, from Kerala,were desparately tweeting to get CBFC Certificate to the Malayalam film Puzha Muthal Puzha Vare on 1921 Hindu Genocide. Our requests were ignored. Now the poor producer Ramasimhan has approached KeralaHC. We sadly understand that we are orphans

This post is in contrast to the earlier stance of Ali Akbar that his film has not been denied certification and that he would release it after Onam last year. Media reports said that the film was denied certification and in appeal it went to the regional committee. The regional committee too backed the censor board. Ali then claimed that he had an adult certificate as he has shown the ~ 1921 riots” and so there was bloodshed and not any rape scenes.

The Malabar rebellion hero Kunjuahammed Haji came into focus when leading director Ashiq Abu and actor Prithviraj announced last June, that they were making a film on his role in the Independence Struggle. Director P  Kunjumuhamed and stage director Shaheed Variyamkunnan too announced films on the same character. Ali Akbar joined the fray to ` show the true face of the hero of the rebellion’.

BJP was keen to portray the Haji as a villain who plundered Hindus during the rebellion and other section out to glorify him. Prithiviraj backed out from the project.

Now the tweet from BJP fellow traveler shows that the first attempt has been not got the backing from the national leadership . The anti BJP camp says that the idea is to remove some of the heroes from the history books Dictionary of Martyrs: India’s freedom struggle 1857-1947, released in 2019 by PM Modi shows Kunjuahamed Haji and Ali Musaliar as freedom fighters came as a big blow to Hindu nationalists.

As soon as the Hindu nationalists raised objections, the soft copy was removed from the website of Cultural Affairs ministry and as per official explanation it was to be issued after the ` mistakes’ were corrected.

Now that the BJP in Kerala and the national leadership has obviously washed it’s hands off. The revising committee of Censor is headed by Gautami the actress who was to contest on BJP ticket in last Tamil Nadu Assembly polls. The Union minister of State looking after the portfolio that oversees such issues is Murugan the BJP MP and hailing from Tamil Nadu.

The propaganda is that Haji and his men plundered Hindus and looted their bank as well raped their woman. He is no freedom fighter but a plunderer is the story by BJP. Leftists say that by tarnishing Haji, the agenda is to remove Vayalar Punapara rebellion heroes from history books. As things stand, the ball is in Kerala High Court.