THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A day after announcing the chairman and vice chairperson of the Kerala State Chalachithra Academy, the state government published the list of new office-bearers of the major cultural institutions on Saturday. Predictably, cultural icons, including Premkumar, who have expressed pro-Congress stances in the past, have received the majority of these appointments.
As expected, actor Premkumar, who had friction with the previous LDF government, has been appointed as the chairman of the Kerala State Film Development Corporation. Premkumar had made his displeasure with the Left government public after he was removed from the post of Chalachithra Academy chairperson (in charge) more than two months before the International Film Festival of Kerala. Producer Alleppey Asharaf has been appointed as the vice chairman.
Producer M Ranjith has been appointed as the chairman of the Kerala Cultural Activists Welfare Fund Board.
Popular singer G Venugopal has been appointed as the chairman of the Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi. While Hemanth Kumar, a noted figure in the theatre-cultural spheres of the state, will be the Academy's vice chairman, NV Pradeepkumar will become the secretary of the same.
Acclaimed writer and orator Kalpetta Narayanan will take charge as the chairman of the Kerala Sahithya Academy. Writer-journalist MP Surendran has been appointed as the Academy's secretary.
Noted animator and production designer Prof Prakash Moorthy will take charge as the chairman of the Kerala Lalithakala Academy. Artist TR Udayakumar and Vaikom MK Shibu have been appointed as the vice chairman and secretary of the Academy.
Folklore expert Suresh Babu Elayavoor will be the new chairman of the Folklore Academy. Tribal activist Sreeraman Koyyon is the newly appointed vice chairman. Pradeepkumar M Payyannur, who has been serving as the secretary of the academy, will take charge as its member secretary.