Interrupting the volley of praises showered on him on a stage in Thiruvananthapuram, renowned actor Prakash Raj won a loud round of applause with his first line, “My darling Kerala, it is always a joy to be here, for the warmth, for the love, for the beliefs you have, and especially for being the God’s Own Country, you keep god away from politics.” The actor was speaking as chief guest at the closing ceremony of the International Film Festival of Kerala on Friday, December 15.
Veteran Polish director Krzysztof Zanussi who won the Lifetime Achievement Award at the festival also appreciated Kerala for giving him the accolade despite “the fact that sometimes we differ in political views”. Zanussi’s earlier visits to Kerala were marked by his differences with Communist leaders like the late PG Govinda Pillai. “Politics has its place in our lives but art is beyond or maybe above politics,” he said to another round of applause from the audience.
Zanussi stressed, in his acceptance speech, about the human values he tries to bring up in his films, such as ‘goodness, beauty and truth’. Touching on the risks of technological advances, of Artificial Intelligence which could either save or destroy humanity, Zanussi said that he hoped Dostoevsky (the iconic Russian author) was right when he said that beauty will save the world.
Prakash Raj, who spoke after Zanussi, appreciated the film festival which was “not tainted with ideologies”. He referred to the recent attack at the parliament to elaborate about ideologies, mentioning the narratives of the ruling and opposition parties and the “group of journalists fighting like jokers” with the canister “for TRPs”. Prakash Raj asked, “But will there also be a narrative discussing what made the youngsters do this [attack]. Will we have a narrative on how frustrating it is to be unemployed, to not get answers on Manipur?” In these conditions it felt “beautiful to be among you all, to discuss, to see and to listen”, he said to the people of Kerala.