After the news of a mass petition protesting the government's move to invite Mohanlal as the chief guest for the Kerala State awards distribution function went viral, a few prominent members from the industry have come forward clarifying their stand on the issue.
The petition, which was started by filmmaker Dr Biju, was backed by around 105 members, including actors and technicians.
Among the petition's signatories were Prakash Raj, Rajeev Ravi, Santosh Thundiyil, N S Madhavan, Rima Kallingal, Geetu Mohandas, Prakash Bare and Sruthi Hariharan, among others.
However, Prakash Raj has denied signing the petition and clarified his stand through a video message on social media. The actor said that he hasn't signed a memorandum and also added that despite his differences with AMMA's recent decision to reinstate Dileep, he has nothing against Mohanlal.
Noted cinematographer Santosh Thundiyil, who shot Mohanlal's Neerali, said this was an attempt to mislead others.
Speaking to Express, he says, "I've been hearing and seeing things I haven't said before. Some of the media houses have falsely reported that I'm against Mohanlal. When I was contacted to discuss the format of the awards ceremony, there was no mention of Mohanlal's name. This petition is only against the idea of calling someone from the film fraternity as the chief guest. We also discussed the fact that an important award ceremony is being turned into an ordinary awards show like those conducted by some TV channels."
Director-cinematographer Rajeev Ravi, who also received the WhatsApp message, says, "I see this petition as a wake-up call for the Chalachithra Academy and the government. We are approaching this from a cultural standpoint. I don't see why Mohanlal has to be dragged into all this. Why is a talent from the film industry being called as the chief guest? This being a State function, wouldn't it be more apt to call the Chief Minister or the Governor or the Cultural Affairs minister? This is something that everyone should be asking the government. Right now, everyone is taking this debate in a completely different and unhealthy direction. It's a wrong way of looking at things."
Mohanlal has already responded to this issue by saying that he hasn't received an invitation to attend the ceremony. This was confirmed by Kerala's Cultural Affairs Minister AK Balan.