Thiruvananthapuram: While the definitions of nationalism and patriotism are causing waves of debates and protests across the country, down south in Kerala, a leading film star and well-known actor-director have taken each other on over the same issue.
Malayalam film star Mohanlal wrote a blog post that praised India’s soldiers serving on high-altitude positions like the Siachen glacier and indirectly criticised the Jawaharlal Nehru University students.
The post drew a quick repartee from film director T.G. Vinayan, who felt the actor’s comments would only help political opportunists.
In his post titled, “Why should we live if India is dead?”, Mohanlal talks about the series of discussions Indians keep having, oblivious to the difficulties faced by soldiers who guard the nation’s borders. “We present traitors as representatives of freedom of expression”, the actor goes on to say, in an oblique criticism of JNU students and those supporting them.
In his post that overflows with nationalistic fervour, the actor said “the nation is this earth that we stand on; the sky that is above our heads; the air that we breathe and the water that we drink”, and goes on to say that “we should be sending our children to the universities of culture”.
Actor-director T.G. Vinayan struck a different chord, stating “it is when patriotism and freedom of expression are mixed up that some doubts arise.
“When our soldiers attain martyrdom we take those sacrifices to heart and pray for them. But when the government described protesting university students as anti-nationals and locked them in jail, voices arose nation-wide that the move was wrong”.
Vinayan went on to add that Mohanlal’s appeal to “kindly end these debates and chaos would only help political opportunists.”
Vinayan, who begins his social media post by saying “India is a land of pluralistic voices”, ends it by saying, “If we want to live in an India that is not dead, the commitment of fearless soldiers alone is not enough. Our leaders should have the maturity to keep Indians united, rising above the differences of religion and caste”.
Both Mohanlal and Vinayan got appreciation and criticism from their numerous fans and readers on social media. One of them pointed out cryptically against Mohanlal, asking what right he had to talk about sending children to universities of culture, after the actor was a model for a surrogate liquor advertisement that asked in its tagline, ‘What are your plans for the evening?’
