Thiruvananthapuram, March 21
A section of the
Malayalam film industry has expressed its displeasure at firebrand
Congress leader Rajmohan Unnithan being appointed chairman of the
state-owned Kerala State Film Development Corporation (KSFDC).
Popular actor Maniyan Pillai Raju said he was shocked at Unnithan's appointment in place of Sabu Cherian.
"I'm
stepping down from the board and will submit my resignation on Monday. I
have nothing against Unnithan at all," Raju told reporters here on
Saturday.
Among others who are likely to follow suit are cinematographer S. Kumar, director Shaji Kailas and actor-producer Siddique.
Minister
for Cinema and Culture Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan, however, said there
has been no violation of rules in appointing the new chairman.
"In
the past also, political personalities have been appointed to this
post. Hence, there is nothing wrong in Unnithan's appointment."
KSFDC
was established in 1975 with the prime objective of facilitating the
production and promotion of Malayalam cinema which was then virtually
monopolised by a few studios in and around Chennai.
Today it also
has around 11 theatres. As is the rule the tenure for all state-owned
boards and corporations is three years. When the present Oommen Chandy
government assumed office, the cinema portfolio was handled by
filmstar-turned-politician K.B. Ganesh Kumar and lots of eyebrows were
raised when he arbitrarily appointed film personalities as heads of film
bodies. But the buzz soon died down.
But today, things have
changed as Kumar is no longer a minister and his party has been booted
out of the ruling UDF alliance for breaching the basic tenants of
political discipline while being an ally.
"The best that Raju
should do is not to announce his resignation to TV channels. Instead, he
should come and put in his papers to the minister. People are queuing
up to become a board member. We wish to know what these people did when
(CPI-M ideologue) P. Govinda Pillai was made the chairman a few years
back. It's nothing but playing politics," new chairman Unnithan told
IANS.
Unnithan, 62, is a hugely popular Congress leader for the
TV channels in the state as he is known for his razor-sharp tongue. He
shot into prominence at the height of the factional feud in the Congress
in the early 2000s and he stood firmly with K. Karunakaran and his son
K.Muraleedharan - but in 2004 he turned against the father-son duo.
Soon
after splitting with Karunakaran, he found his way into the Malayalam
filmdom and acted in a number of films, just because of his flowing
dialogue delivery.
A popular actor, on condition of anonymity,
told IANS that whenever the Congress government makes any changes, lot
of voices are heard, but when the Left does it when it is in power, no
protests are heard.
"Unnithan has all the qualities to be made a chairman and am I sure he will do a good job too," said the actor.
