THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: When attempts are being made to stop the screening of films and curtail creativity and free thinking, they are signs of a dangerous disease gripping the society, actor Prakash Raj said on Friday. Guest of honour at the opening ceremony of the 22nd edition of the International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK), he said Kerala is one state where there is “no censor’’ and “where I can breathe without fear.’’ There is an agenda and a narrative which are being forced upon us, the national-award winning actor said. “Since these people who do this believe in ‘Janma,’ believe me, they are the reincarnations of Hitler,’’ he said.
Attempts are being made to stifle any form of dissent. When you silence a voice, a louder voice is born. On the row over Sanal Kumar Sasidharan’s film ‘S Durga,’ he said the people who pulled the strings have no problem with a wine or bar named Durga or a dirty street named Durga. “I raise my voice not because I belong to any particular political party.
As an artist I feel responsible that I should speak,’’ he said. Artists and the creative community of people are what they are because of the love from society. It is their duty to pay back society for that affection. “If we become cowards, we are responsible for making society cowards. They are threatening me, I laugh at them.
They are trying to silence me, I start singing,’’ he said. If someone is lynched in Rajasthan today and the culprits go scot-free, we need to think about the kind of narrative that is being pushed, Raj said. ‘’Do you want us to believe that you know what Hindutva is? Or are you trying to put in something else?’’ Attempts to silence voices and instil fear so that the next generation would be afraid to think should be foiled, he said.
68 films to be screened today
T’Puram: The IFFK will offer 68 films in 14 theatres. In international competition category Argentinean film ‘Symphony for Ana’ by Ernesto Ardito and Virna Molina, Semih Kaplanoglu directed Grain will be screened at Tagore theatre. Malayalam films Angamali Diaries and Karutha Joodhan will be shown at Kairali theatre and Tagore theatre respectively. Brazilian films White Out Black In, South West, Young and Miserable, Kill Me Please are in the country focus category.