No one can beat the Malayalam film fraternity in keeping up appearances. We have all heard stories of rivalries between top stars or between film-makers. But, rarely have we seen any of them fighting it out in the open.
For popular consumption are fed stories of their friendship, which flood the press during the annual festival season or praises heaped on one another at one of the zillion award functions. So, the recent comment-counter comment game between film-maker Rajeev Ravi and actor-writer Sreenivasan has come as a surprise for most.
Rajeev Ravi fired the first salvo. In a wide-ranging interview to an online portal, he said he hates Sreenivasan’s films for playing on middleclass sensibilities and for its relentless attack on the Left. Though this was only a passing comment in a long interview, it blew up into a major controversy afteryoung film-makersvoiced opinions against it.
In his response, which has been characterised as a bit low compared to the exalted levels of his satire, Sreenivasan said, “some people can speak only if they smoke ganja. Those who make films after smoking ganja need to be arrested. Ganja is a banned substance and this generation thinks that it is some good thing. They have come to destroy Malayalam cinema. They think that smoking ganja will make them intellectuals. They will only end up losing their intellect.”
One can only wish that the old style of keeping up appearances is maintained.
