Mohanlal’s ‘campaign’ for co-star stirs up actors’ guild

In Kerala, where film actors have been shy to take the political plunge, the Pathanapuram constituency in Kerala this time witnesses a unique political experiment — three popular film actors are contesting the polls from here.

Jagadeesh, who has excelled in the roles of comedian and the country bumpkin in scores of Malayalam films, is the United Democratic Front’s candidate.

KB Ganesh Kumar, who has acted as villain as well as taken on character roles in several movies, is the Left Democratic Front’s man; while ‘Bheeman’ Raghu, who has donned the role of the muscleman in Malayalam cinema for decades is the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance nominee.

The constituency has for long been considered a family fiefdom of Ganesh Kumar and his father K Balakrishna Pillai, who heads the Kerala Congress (Balakrishna Pillai) party. Kumar, earlier with the Congress-led alliance, was also Minister in AK Antony and Oommen Chandy governments.

The triangular star contest has put the influential Association of Malayalam Movie Actors in a fix.

The association, which has sympathisers of almost all parties in the State, has so far distanced itself from all things political, though the well-known comedy actor Innocent, an LDF MP, is its president.

Ahead of the start of campaign for the Assembly election, AMMA had reportedly reached an informal agreement — to ensure political neutrality — that no functionary should campaign for film personalities contesting the elections.

However, on Thursday, actor Mohanlal, who is an AMMA Vice-President, made an appearance in an election rally for Ganesh Kumar, though he did not appeal for votes. This annoyed Jagadeesh and triggered a flurry of responses from film personalities. Jagadeesh said he felt let-down by Mohanlal’s ‘campaign’ for Ganesh and got emotional in a TV interview. Raghu said he didn’t mind the superstar’s appearance, confident as he was of a win.

Another actor-candidate, Mukesh, who is the LDF candidate in nearby Kollam constituency, came to the defence of Mohanlal, saying he had the personal freedom to campaign for his friend.

Criticising Mohanlal’s campaign, former Union Minister and Congress leader Kodikkunnil Suresh alleged that Ganesh had blackmailed Mohanlal into making an appearance for him.

But, the controversy has caused trouble within AMMA. National award winner Salim Kumar announced his resignation from the association protesting against Mohanlal’s pro-Ganesh appearance. He claimed Mohanlal had violated the AMMA agreement.

Meanwhile, Innocent has come out with a clarification that no decision had been made to ban AMMA members from campaigning in the election.

COMMENT NOW