Prakash Raj, whose name was among the 108 signatories who demanded the removal of Mohanlal as the chief guest of the Kerala film awards, issued a clarification stating that he didn’t sign any such letter.
The actor posted a video clarifying that he did not sign any such letter to the government and also said that he was not aware of the issue. “This is to clarify that there is a news going around that I have signed a memorandum against Mohanlal ji attending the Kerala state award function which is false. I signed neither such memorandum nor am I aware of such memorandum.”
He further explained that though he disagreed with AMMA’s decision to reinstate Dileep as it was an insensitive move, he did not sign any memorandum against Mohanlal, a well-statured actor.
Clarifying… against s a wrong news doing the rounds pic.twitter.com/PIcyua2GA2
— Prakash Raj (@prakashraaj) July 24, 2018
Through a press release on Monday, 108 signatories, including directors Dr Biju, Rajiv Ravi, Siddharth Siva, Geethu Mohandas, Reema Kallingal, Sajitha Madathil and writers such as Sethu, N.S.Madhavan and Sachidanandan demanded that the Kerala government do away with Mohanlal handing out the state awards and ‘belittling’ the winners as his movies were in the running for the same awards. Prakash Raj’s name was also in the list.
Earlier on Sunday, director Dr. Biju through a Facebook post said that the state cultural department should take a leaf out of the National Awards ceremony and follow a similar model where the Chief Minister presents awards to the winners rather than invite someone who had no business at the ceremony, terming the prevailing system ‘illogical.’
He also slammed the Cultural Affairs Minister of Kerala, A.K Balan for inviting Mohanlal as the chief guest of the annual state awards ceremony. He pointed out that by inviting Mohanlal, the minister has inadvertently sided with Dileep, an accused in the case of abduction and sexual assault of an actress.
പ്രസ് റിലീസ്സംയുക്ത പ്രസ്താവനസിനിമയിലെ ക്രിയാത്മകമായ കലാപ്രവര്ത്തനങ്ങള്ക്ക് ഒരു സംസ്ഥാനം നല്കുന്ന ഉന്നതമായ…
Posted by Bijukumar Damodaran on Sunday, July 22, 2018
