Malayalam film director Jeo Baby took to Instagram on Wednesday, December 6 to express his protest against the students union and management of Farook College in Kerala’s Kozhikode for cancelling an event to which he was invited as a guest. The college’s film club allegedly cancelled the programme since the filmmaker’s statements were not in line with “the moral values of the college”. The director said he would move legally against the college if he did not get an explanation from them.
The event was the film club inauguration and had been planned for Tuesday. The topic for Jeo’s speech was ‘Subtle politics of present day Malayalam cinema’. In a video captioned ‘My protest’, the director said he felt insulted and would file a case against the college.
“I reached Kozhikode to attend the event. The very morning of the event a teacher who was the coordinator of the programme called to notify me that the event was cancelled. She did not even give me a valid reason for the sudden cancellation,” Jeo explained in the video, citing that announcements and posters for the event with his name had already been released on social media by then.
“To know the reason, I emailed the principal of the college and tried to contact them through WhatsApp. But till now, there has been no response from their side,” he said.
Jeo added that he had received a forwarded message which included the letter from the students union of the college explaining why the event was cancelled. He read out parts of the letter which said, “The director’s values and opinions are against that of the college’s religious values, and we will not support this event.”
“I got the answer from the students union. I also want an answer from the college management. I travelled and spent a whole day in Kozhikode for this and I felt very humiliated. I am going to move legally against this. If I don’t protest in this manner, other people will also be affected just like me. I want to know what such educational institutions and student organisations aim to achieve through this,” he added.
OnManorama reported that the college authorities issued a clarification on the incident. They said they decided to cancel the event because the students union informed them that they would hold a protest against the programme. They thought it would be better to cancel the event rather than cause hurt to the guest.
Meanwhile PK Navas, state president of the Muslim Students Federation (MSF), the student wing of the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), in a Facebook post supported the students union and said that just like Jeo Baby has the right to express his opinion, the students have the right to choose whether to listen to him or not.
Kaathal - The Core and The Great Indian Kitchen are two of Jeo Baby’s widely discussed films. Kaathal was released last month and features Mammootty and Jyotika as a married couple who struggle after Jyotika files for divorce because her husband is gay. The Great Indian Kitchen starring Nimisha Sajayan and Suraj Venjaromoodu showed the drudgery of a woman in married life.