The Hindus of Kerala are indebted to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for removing the hurdles that enabled the release of the iconic film – Puzha Muthal Puzha Vare (River to River), written, directed, and produced by Ramasimhan Aboobekar (formerly Ali Akbar) on 1921 Hindu Genocide in Malabar. The film based on the historical accounts was the first crowd-funded film in Malayalam.
The Moplah riots, despite mounting evidence and witness accounts to prove that it was a communal pogrom aimed at establishing Islamic rule in Malabar, were projected as an anti-British and anti-landlord uprising by the landless Muslims, for political purposes by Marxist and Islamist historians. In the pogrom that lasted several months, about 10,000 Hindus, including women and children, were slaughtered, lakhs were forcibly converted and about 5 lakh people had to flee to other parts of the state.
Not only the Communists, under pressure from the Muslim League, the Congress government gave pension and other benefits to rioters who slaughtered Hindus. The Hindu victims of the massacre were projected as traitors who sided with the British.
The director Ramasimhan had to undergo several humiliating and hostile situations not only from the Leftists and Islamists who had launched a campaign against him for taking up this project. The state government tried to block the production of the film by putting up restrictions on shooting in public places. Ramasimhan had to shoot the film in private properties.
Goons of the outlawed Popular Front’s political wing SDPI and CPI(M) were the ones who launched a massive campaign against Ramasimhan. The posters of the film were torn off at various places. Ramasimhan requested the people to become advertisers of the film themselves, as the Commies and Islamists were out to scuttle his plans.
The role of censor board
The role of the censor board has been not been highly controversial but also hostile. The then Regional Officer, Parvathy, a Marxist leader’s granddaughter played all dirty tricks to stall the film. A staunch Marxist, she shamelessly told the director that the film was “pro-Hindu” and wanted him to remove all crucial portions of the film which were critical of Islamists. Ramasimhan said the suggested cuts were crucial for the film After submitting the film for certification, the Chairman of CBFC, Prasoon Joshi, referred the film to a revising committee. The Revising Committee examined the movie and the 10-Member Revising Committee, by a majority decision (7/10), decided to issue ‘A’ certification to the movie with a few cuts. But Joshi again sent the film to a second Revising Committee.
Pushed to the wall, Ramasimhan decided to knock the doors of the Kerala High Court. The Court noted that when five out of eight members of the Revising Committee approved the film with seven modifications, the Chairman had option either to accept the recommendation of the Revising Committee or if the Chairman disagrees with the decision of the majority of the Committee, refer the matter to the Board for examination of the film. The court said that the decision of the Chairman was illegal. The Court noted that when five out of eight members of the Revising Committee approved the film with seven modifications, the Chairman had option either to accept the recommendation of the Revising Committee or if the Chairman disagrees with the decision of the majority of the Committee, refer the matter to the Board for examination of the film. The Court noted that the action of the Chairman referring the film to a second Revising Committee is illegal and is in violation of the Cinematograph Act, 1952 and the Cinematograph (Certification) Rules, 1983. Accordingly, the Court set aside the Order referring the movie to a second Revising Committee and the Order certifying the Film for public exhibition restricted to adults subject to moderation of scenes of excessive and repeated atrocities.
Even after the court order, officials tried to scuttle the release. Frustrated, Ramasimhan wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking his intervention. The Prime Minister’s Office responded and sent the letter to the concerned department for action. In no time, the hurdles were cleared for release.
Success of the film
As stated earlier, the Islamists and Leftists, aided by a biased media, went all out to show that the film was a huge box office failure. But people wholeheartedly accepted the film despite the fact that the film had several technical flaws, thanks to the shoe-string budget of the film. People were not flocking to the theatres to see the technical brilliance but to witness the true history, hitherto distorted and hidden by vested interests. In many theatres, the shows were running house-full.
Relevance of the film
The film, Puzha Muthal Puzha Vare, has come as a gust of breeze that is capable of pushing the vitiated air of untruth to the Arabian Sea. It gave a fresh lease of life to lethargic and moribund intellectual landscape of Kerala, vitiated by the vile Marxist malcontents and Islamists. Ramasimhan has shown the way. Let his tribe increase.
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