'Will Indrans be ever invited as chief guest?'

The move to invite a reigning superstar as the chief guest of the Kerala Film Awards function has raised the hackles of several prominent members from the Malayalam film industry. They even decried the blatant bias as well as the likely conflict of interest such a situation may give rise to as even the films of the reportedly shortlisted actor, Mohanlal, may be in the running for the state honour.

Talking on the row, screenwriter Deedi Damodaran said, “When actor Indrans won the award, a superstar is invited for the ceremony to be the chief guest. But if a superstar bags such an award, will someone like Indrans be ever invited as the chief guest?”

“Just like the National award, the Kerala state award is also an honour for the recipients to receive it from the chief minister and cultural minister. I don't think a special person is needed for the same," she added.

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Earlier, on Monday, 105 people from the film fraternity had signed a mass petition insisting that the chief minister should hand over the awards at a simple event. The plea, which didn't refer to Mohanal by name, suggested that a chief guest is not necessary to grace the event.

The mass petition was signed by 105 celebrities and handed over to Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan. The signees include cinematographer Santosh Thundiyil who cracked the camera for Mohanlal's recent film 'Neerali'. Several other directors, cinematographers, activists, writers and mediapersons had signed the plea.

It is said the opposition to the reported bid to call Mohanlal as the chief guest of the function is due to his stand on taking back actor Dileep into the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA) after he took over as its president recently. Dileep is an accused in the infamous actress attack case of 2017.