Hundreds of cultural activists and people from diverse stations in life formed a ‘human chain’ on the Manaveeyam Veedhi to get the government to declare it a permanent ‘cultural corridor’.
The ‘human chain’ took shape at 5 p.m., well after various groups filled the street with a ‘Baul’ songs rendition by Parvathy Baul, skits, exhibition of paintings, poetry recitation and rendering of folk songs. The street, which was marked as a cultural space in 2000 to mark the dawn of the new millennium, has been the venue of cultural performances every Sunday evening by the Abhinaya Theatre Group under the banner ‘Theruvorakoottaayma’.
Over the past few weeks, the Abhinaya theatre activists have been working hand-in-hand with leading politicians, including CPI(M) Polit Bureau member M.A. Baby and CPI Central council member Binoy Viswam, architect G. Sankar, Bharat Bhavan secretary Satheesh Babu Payyannur and other cultural leaders to get the street notified as a ‘cultural corridor’. The corridor would have statues and memorials of cultural icons and a permanent art exhibition wall besides a performance facility. Culture Minister K.C. Joseph had held two meetings with the movement leaders on the subject.
International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) jury member Italo Spinelli, film-maker Shaji N. Karun, cinematographers Ramachandra Babu and Sunny Joseph, Kerala State Chalachitra Academy chairman Rajiv Nath, actors Sajitha Madathil and Shylaja, artist B.D. Dethan, senior journalist N. Madhavan Kutty, award winning film writers Amrit Gangar, C.S. Venkiteswaran and V.K. Joseph, film producer Kireedom Unni, theatre activists and many others formed part of the ‘human chain’.
