Thiruvananthapuram: National award-winning Malayalam director Priyanandanan was attacked by a group of men, who he alleged were RSS workers, on Friday morning.
The attackers flung cow dung at him near his house in Thrissur. The 53-year-old sustained an injury to his ear and was admitted to a private hospital in Thrissur.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan condemned the attack in a statement. “These kind of attacks cannot be tolerated in our state. Prior to this, there was a cyber-attack against him by the Sangh Parivar. It is an attack against the freedom of expression,” the CM said.
On January 11, the director had sparked controversy with a Facebook post he had written about the entry of women into the Sabarimala’s Ayyappa shrine.
A large number of Sangh Parivar activists, including BJP leaders, reacted strongly against the post and even held marches outside the filmmaker’s house.
"He is free to allege anything. If we had such a motive to attack him it could have been much earlier after his post," senior BJP leader B Gopalakrishnan said, denying any involvement in Friday morning’s attack.
Priyanandanan’s Pulijanmam was awarded the Best Film at the 54th National Film Awards in 2006.
The director’s first movie, released in 2001, ‘Neythukaran’ is the story of a weaver who dies soon after the death of his idol - the veteran Communist leader E M S Nambuthirppad. The film was given a National Award in the Best Actor category.
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