Left Right Left, the 2013 political thriller which is rumoured to be loosely based on the life of current Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan, gave actor Hareesh Peradi his big break. The actor, however, has now said that he disagrees with the film's politics and that Murali Gopy, who wrote the film, is attempting to promote fascism through Hindutva.
"Personally, I have never agreed or will agree to the politics of the film (LRL), despite it being a good story and the fact that I acted in it," Hareesh wrote.
The actor then went on to allege that Murali Gopy was promoting "Sangh fascism".
"Especially at a time when the Left has been defeated in the elections, the scriptwriter of this movie (Murali Gopy) has been cleverly supporting Sangh Fascism through his Facebook posts. I feel it is my political responsibility to counter this," a part of the post reads.
Hareesh's post was a reaction to a Facebook status posted by Murali Gopy. This post by Murali was put up for the 30th anniversary of the Tianenmen Square massacre in China where the military under communist rule opened fire on the pro democracy protesters in Beijing.
Putting up a fan-made clip of his film Left Right Left, Murali wrote, "When political leaders gain temporary victories by using force and weapons, they will find a thousand blood flames of the wounded memories that cannot be hidden."
Left Right Left is the story of a powerful leader in Kerala which is under a communist government. It has three central characters played by Indrajit, Murali Gopy and Hareesh Peradi. The film attempts to offer a criticism of power hungry politics and leaders within the communist party. On its release, the film sparked a lot of controversy with demands being made to ban its screening in the northern communist strongholds of Kerala as supporters felt the film was attempting to portray party leaders in a bad light.
Films penned by Murali Gopy, critics have said, tend to lean towards the right and have very problematic depictions. In his 2017 film Tiyaan, Murali Gopy attempted to fight Hindutva by ironically glorifying Brahmanism. The film, several critics observed, completely misread caste politics and even had some cringeworthy scenes where a Dalit child bows to a Brahmin "enlightened" man. The 2012 film Ee Adutha Kaalathu, again written by Murali Gopy, had stirred controversy with some claiming that it glorified RSS and ABVP workers.