Filmmaker Bijukumar Damodaran, better known as Dr. Biju, on Tuesday resigned as a board member of the Kerala State Film Development Corporation (KSFDC).
When The Hindu contacted the filmmaker, he said that he had informed the KSFDC authorities about the decision. However, he has chosen not to make public the reasons for the decision for the time being.
The move comes a day after filmmaker Ranjith, Chairman of the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy that organises the International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK), made some controversial remarks about Dr. Biju and his films in an interview. Mr. Ranjith had questioned Dr. Biju’s relevance when few people went to theatres to watch his new release Adrishya Jeevithangal. The film is screened in the Kaleidoscope category of the IFFK.
Dr. Biju, had in his response in a Facebook post, said that Mr. Ranjith was not qualified enough to judge his film. “The last international recognition I got was from a jury headed by Turkish filmmaker Nuri Bilge Ceylan. You can ask someone about that filmmaker. Since he is also a director whose films don’t fill theatres, you may not know his relevance either,” he had said in the post.
