Poet hurt by film unit closure

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The government’s decision to close down the Kannur branch of the Kerala Chalachithra Academy’s mobile film unit has come as a shock to many, including its few employees who were rendered jobless.

They are pointing an accusing finger at actor-turned minister K.B. Ganesh Kumar, who they thought was their saviour.

Famous poet Pavithran Theekkuni, a former State Sahitya Akademi Award winner, is among those who lost the jobs. The job at the academy was Theekuni’s only income.

“The minister had claimed he will make the film industry more people-friendly, and now he does this. I didn’t expect our own minister would fire us from our jobs,” Theekkuni told DC.

Pavithran, a clerk with the academy, was dismissed in May. “My friend and director Renji Panicker consoled me and he promised that he would try to revoke the termination,” he said, adding it was one and a half months now and he had little hope left.

“I was getting Rs 350 a day and was able to live on that income. In May, I received a possession notice from the bank and am trying hard to make both ends meet.”

“I was a coolie before getting a the job at the academy. Now, people are reluctant to give me work. Fame has boomeranged on me, people would not treat a poet as a collie,” he said.

“So, now I am forced to stand in a queue along with Bengali and North Indian migrant labourers for a living, every morning.”

The previous LDF government started the mobile unit to spread awareness about films. The team of five people used to travel across the state to spread the awareness.