National award winning Malayalam films have stayed canned

Thiruvananthapuram, June 10 (IANS) Four of the six Malayalam movies that won national awards this year, including "Pulijanmam" (for Best Film), have not been publicly screened, Minister for Education and Cultural Affairs M.A. Baby admitted here Tuesday.

"This lacuna will hopefully be set right with the help of Chalachitra (Screen) Academy and the good offices of ace directors like Adoor Gopalakrishnan," Baby told reporters.

The minister was reacting to criticism by "Pulijanman" director M.P. Sukumaran, who voiced his unhappiness over three other award winning films "Ekantham", "Minukku" and "Dishtantham" being confined to the cans.

"What is the use of media hype through television channels showing clips of these movies when they can never be seen on the big screen?" Sukumaran asked angrily in a television interview that ironically came after a few snatches of scenes from the critically acclaimed movies were shown.

Awards jury member Kireedom Unny was in a defensive mode about the film circuit in Kerala.

"The movies in question failed to kindle interest amongst the moviegoers. As cinemas are not charitable institutions, there is nothing wrong in their not coming forward to screen the films," Unny said in another chat show.