In response to social media posts which questioned her decision to act in director Kamaluddin’s Aami, Manju Warrier has said that she does not like to mix politics and art. Aami is a biopic of Kerala’s legendary poet, Kamala Das.
Most of the comments directed at Warrier had asked her to step away from the role and the film, as the director was “anti-national”.
Warrier took to Facebook to say that it was not right to mix art with politics. She wrote:
“I respect the artist in him [Kamal] and I’m excited to work with him again after a gap of 20 years. I’m not doing this film because of his political views.
“Please consider Aami as just a film and my part as just a character. There will be different views and political affiliations for everyone working in a film. But above everything, filmmaking is an art and everyone works together to create a good film, after putting aside their personal differences. The same will happen in Aami.”
Kamala Das is considered a controversial literary figure – both for her work, and for converting to Islam in the last few years of her life.
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Kamaluddin, himself, is controversial as well. He was branded an ‘anti-national’ for calling Prime Minister Narendra Modi a “man-eater” earlier this year. He was also criticised for supporting the people who were arrested at the recent IFFI in Kerala for refusing to stand up for the national anthem.
Earlier, Vidya Balan had been signed to play the female lead. She was later replaced by Manju Warrier.