Adoor Gopalakrishnan’s Kaststische speech interrupted in the Kerala film policy; Faces setbacks from Dalit Filmemacher

The two-day Kerala film policy closure Filmmaker Adoor Goplakrishnan criticized the state incentive programs for filmmakers from planned box and planned trunks (SC/ST) and female filmmakers.

Gopalakrishnan’s statements immediately staged by Malayalam musicians and composer Pushpavathi POPOPADATHU. The incident has moved the staff of the Kerala film industry into a lengthy department along the caste and in the gender lines. Dalit human rights activist Dinu Veyil submitted a complaint against the filmmaker for promoting the sick will against SC/ST communities in accordance with Section 3 (1) (U) of the SC/ST Act (prevention of atrocities). Gopalakrishnan’s statements have shown the full power of patriarchal and Savarna settings that contaminate the Kerala film industry.

Dalit filmmakers need “intensive training with experts”.

In his final remarks on August 3, almost 500 film delegates from all over the country and in the world in the legislative Assembly Complex in Thiruvananthapuram, Gopalakrishnan, in his final remarks, that the current incentive program of the state is very in need of reform, with many expenses, which is used in the use of corruption and corruption, in the use of Corruption, including corruption.

Adoor Goplakrishnan (file).

In the 13-minute brand of his speech, almost three minutes Incentive for SC/ST filmmakers and Dalit filmmaker itself:

In my life I didn’t make a film for two crores. At the same time, the government gives planned box and planned trunks of 1.5 crores to make films. I told the prestigious minister that this would lead to corruption. The estimated finance minister knows that. But no changes were made. If they are selected, I also have an important recommendation. For these people from the planned box. . . You should receive intensive training for at least three months about filming films. Someone approaches (state) with interest in filmmaking. Send them by telling them: “Make a film” is no way to encourage you. So you should receive training among experts for three months. You should be taught everything, including the budget for a film. . . These are public funds. These are tax revenue of the public. There are numerous very important problems in our lives that have to be financed. . . Yes, you have to offer you training courses. Reduce the amount of 1.5 crores for one person to fifty LAKHS for three people. ‘

With regard to KSFDC initiatives for female filmmakers, Gopalakrishnan repeated his recommendations: “Financing for women is the same. Give no money just because someone is a woman. A woman should also receive training. It is very important that we have female film directors. We have one or two and you are good. But if we want new directors how to contact, you have to understand, films.”

“The filmmakers have to understand the difficulties of making films.”

KSFDC, founded in 1975, began with the financing of initiatives for female filmmakers, forty-four years later in 2019-2020, followed by financing directors of the Dalit communities in 2020-21. As part of the program, KSFDC 1,5 Crores awards two filmmakers from each category. The applicants go through several rounds of the assessment, workshops and interviews carried out by a expert judge appointed by KSFDC.

Gopalakrishnan explained the shortcomings of the defects Incentive for SC/ST filmmakers: For these people from the planned box. . . You should receive intensive training for at least three months about filming films. Someone approaches (state) with interest in filmmaking. Send them by telling them: “Make a film” is no way to encourage you. So you should receive training among experts for three months. You should be taught everything, including the budget for a film.

So far, ten films produced by KSFDC have been published and/or are to be published under this scheme, including Nishiddho (Forbidden, Dira Ramanujan, 2022), divorce (Dir. Mini IG, 2023) and B 32 Muthal 44 Vare (from B 32 to 44, Dir. Directors from Dalit communities. Nishiddho won the Kerala State Film Award in 2022 for the best feature film with an international premiere at the Frankfurt Independent Film Festival, while B 32 Muthal 44 Vare won the best director in the 2023 category in 2023, and Victoria won the FipResci Prize for the best Malayalam film from a debut -Didricher in 2024.

While Gopalakrishnan’s comments brought in applause, the reaction of the audience showed several concrete participants who were confused about these castic and sexist comments. At the beginning of the public counter reaction against the filmmaker, the activist body Women in the Cinema Collective (WCC) condemned the filmmaker Stark For his comments: At the consequence of Kerala film policy and in the following days, Adoor Gopalakrishnan has again exposed his upper caste, caste and gender perspective for the public through his comments on the experiences of the filmmaking of new female and Dalit directors in Malayalam Cinema. During his speech, Adoor undoubtedly confirmed his patriarchal and antidalitic stance by making derogatory statements about the renowned singer Pushpavathi, who is also the deputy chairman of Sangeetha Nataka Akademi, who reacted. The WCC expressly condemns Adoors approach and attitude. ‘

“Who is she? Who enabled them?”

After the incident, Adoor Gopalakrishnan defended his comments in an interview to a prominent Malayalam news channel. He insisted that he spoke for the Dalit community and not against it. It seems that Gopalakrishnan has acquired the right for himself to speak for the Dalit community. He has no tolerance for votes from the Dalit community, as his enemy and unprofessional tirade against Pushpavathi Poypadathu shows for the “interruption” during his speech. In different times as a “girl”, “this woman” and “a woman from the street”, Pushpavathi Propadathu refers and barked at the interviewer:

Pushpavathi POPOPADATHU DALIT singer, who made Adoor Gopalacrishna’s controversy comments

“A girl got up and said something. She is a woman who has no connection to the cinema. It is nowhere in this area. What law does it have to speak about this topic? She interrupted me as I talked. People who were there had them put down. . . What law do you have to interrupt while he speaks? How are you strengthened for this? . . . I have worked in the cinema industry for more than sixty years. . . Who is she? A woman. She got advertising. That is the goal. . . You may know them, but I don’t. It is an unknown unit. She has no business there. She has no right to come to the film. In which position is she there? Is the film Conclave a place for a woman from the street who comes in and can talk? I also speak that. . . This is not a “chantha” (market). It is an important session. ‘

Pushpavathi POPOPADATHU is relatively known in the Malay public sector. POPODATHU is a classic trained musician and the current deputy chair of Kerala Sangeeta Nataka Akademi and has composed and sung several popular songs for Malayalam films. As a musician from a Dalit community, POPOPADATHU emphasized ‘Kaste’ through her work as a musician.

Regardless of Gopalakrishnan, “she is an unknown unit”, and Pushpavathi POPOPADATHU is relatively well known in the public area of the Malayali. POPODATHU is a classic trained musician and the current deputy chair of Kerala Sangeeta Nataka Akademi and has composed and sung several popular songs for Malayalam films. As a musician from a Dalit community, POPOPADATHU emphasized ‘Kaste’ through her work as a musician. She has published several albums that present the work of progressive anti-caste thinkers, poets and saints, from Kabir to Tagore to Poykayil Appachan and Sree Narayana Guru.

In an interview, POPOPADATHU found that when Gopalakrishnan does not “know” or “from her”, which speaks the ignorance of the filmmakers about Dalit matters. POPOPADATHU also found that as a Dalit musician, she had difficulty finding visibility and voice in the Malayali media landscape. It is well qualified to talk about the theoretical “difficulty” of women and Dalit artists Gopalakrishnan.

POPOPADATHU claimed that she was forced to pronounce against the recommendation of the filmmaker that the state government reduces the 1.5 crores to 50 LAKHs because they undermine the attempts by the state to remedy and bring years of inequality towards women and dalite communities. “My moral enabled me… I spoke to the right ones that I have as an Indian citizen.

Pushpavathi POPOPADATHU is not the first person to “interrupt” Adoor Gopalakrishnan in the film. When Gopalakrishnan ‘350’ incorrectly quoted as the number of films published in Kerala in 2024, a male voice of the audience corrected him with ‘230’. The filmmaker accepted the correction without incidents. He reserved his anger for the Dalit woman.

The Kerala police will not pursue any legal measures against the filmmaker, since his comments from the Dalit community were not classified as derogatory. However, this incident and his snack bar should inform any film policy in the creation because it asks to eradicate casteism and sexism in a job in the film industry.

Gayatri Devi, the writer, translator, gardener and amateur chef, was born and grew up in Kerala and now lives and works in the United States.