Malayalam filmmaker B Unnikrishnan has slammed the effort to target popular actor Mohanlal over the Kerala government's move to make him the chief guest for the upcoming annual film award event. A statement signed by a few fringe artistes and some others had earlier this week requested the government to desist from giving the honour to any popular star at a government function. Their plea had raised a furore especially after it was found that its several proposers were hoodwinked into giving their names and the brains behind the petition had resorted to it to target Mohanlal, who is the chief of the film artistes' body AMMA.
Unnikrishnan welcomed the bid to invite Mohanlal to grace the function. “Who else, if not Mohanlal”, he asked. Talking on the ongoing row, the director said, “One must consider why Mohanlal is to be invited as the chief guest and not someone like (actress) Urvashi”. He further added, “The award is an honour given by the government. It will decide how to present the award. When a big name like Mohanlal becomes part of it, bigger the event becomes.”
Pointing out that Mohanlal represents the Malayalam film industry, Unnikrishnan asked, “If Mohanlal joins the award ceremony, will it dim the recognition of those who got the award?
Referring to the fractious ties among film personalities, the director stated there is no harm in criticising an association because of differences of opinion, but attacking someone out of personal grudge is totally wrong. "Mohanlal has been in the industry for the past 40 years. How can you judge him only on the basis of being an association's president and not on the work he has done," he said.
Earlier, in a bid to douse the row, Kerala minister AK Balan confirmed that AMMA president Mohanlal will be invited for the award ceremony and the official invitation will be send on Wednesday.
