The proposal to make a documentary film celebrating 125 years since Swami Vivekananda’s visit to Kerala, has apparently been rejected by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, as per a report in The New Indian Express.
Interestingly, it was the Kerala CM who had initially suggested that the 125th anniversary of Vivekananda’s visit to the state should be duly celebrated.
National Award-winning short filmmaker RS Madhu had submitted the proposal for the documentary, which had been approved by the information and public relations department.
RS Madhu had approached the government with the idea of making a 50-minute documentary on Swami Vivekananda’s visit to the state. Though the PR department had approved his proposal, it was rejected by the CM without citing any reason.
Madhu is a former member of the Kerala Chalachitra Academy and member of the Board of Studies for Visual Arts, Kerala University. He has over 50 years of experience in producing documentary films and theatre.
A recipient of the Gurupooja Award from the Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi, Madhu said that Vivekananda’s visit was a significant event which had a profound influence on the socio-cultural history of the state. He urged the government that since it was the 125th year since Vivekananda’s visit to the state, it would make sense to make the documentary in 2017 itself.
“There was strong recommendation to permit me to produce the documentary ‘Vivekananadan Keralathil’ in 2017 itself as it would be relevant to produce the film on the 125th anniversary of the visit. The recommendation was clear about funding the film. The officials had also pointed out that I had been in the panel of documentary makers of the PRD for several years,” Madhu told NIE.
As per information retrieved under RTI Act, the proposal and abridged form of the script for the documentary had been cleared by the PR department, the NIE report adds.
However, when the proposal reached the CM’s office, it was was rejected.