CPI(M) condemns Adoor Gopalakrishnans place that would-be filmmakers from marginalised sections and girls require intense coaching

Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] Kerala State secretary M.V. Govindan has condemned award-winning director Adoor Gopalakrishnan’s purported assertion at a government-sponsored movie conclave on Saturday that aspirant filmmakers hailing from the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (SC/ST) communities, and likewise ladies, require a minimum of “three weeks of intense” coaching earlier than getting State funding for films and documentaries.

Speaking to reporters in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday (August 5, 2025), Mr. Govindan said that Mr. Gopalakrishnan had claimed his phrases on the current cinema conclave have been in good religion and subsequently misconstrued. 

“Mr. Gopalakrishnan says he didn’t imply them. Nonetheless, the colloquy smacked of feudal putrescence. Such discourses are an injustice to a contemporary, democratic and progressive society comparable to ours,” he stated.

Mr. Govindan stated Kerala had relegated the oppressive caste system, which he termed an “synthetic feudal-era assemble to rank human benefit and assign positions in society in a prejudiced method, to the dustbin of historical past.”

“Kerala has walked ahead quite a bit, outpacing a decadent period. The Culture Minister had said the occasion and the federal government’s place on the conclave. Kerala is the house of a progressive populace formed by working-class struggles and the Renaissance and progressive actions. That eager consciousness ought to inform everybody’s acts and phrases”, he stated.  

Mr. Gopalakrishnan had courted controversy by bracketing would-be filmmakers amongst ladies and likewise these hailing from marginalised sections of society for rigorous coaching.

He additionally demanded transparency and pressured the necessity for due course of, together with vetting on the granular stage of movie productions subsidised by the federal government. 

Mr. Gopalakrishnan additionally said that some State-funded productions lacked creative benefit and have been budgeted excessively to siphon off public cash, which he stated may very well be higher spent for the needy and homeless. 

Mr. Gopalakrishnan’s place had drawn criticism for being allegedly misogynistic and feudal. Subsequently, the Kerala State Commission for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes took cognisance of the matter. It sought a report from the Museum Police to look at whether or not Mr. Gopalakrishnan’s purported assertion violated the provisions of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities Act).