Thrissur: The discrimination against some actors on the basis of their caste has to be done away with in Malayalam film Industry, actor and Rajya Sabha MP Suresh Gopi has said. He was speaking in Thrissur on Sunday after inaugurating the sculpture exhibition by Shilpi Rajan at Lalithakala Akademi Art gallery. “Earlier there was a belief that only certain actors could get a national award and that concept was broken after I got one. Later, actors like Salim Kumar, Suraj Venjaramoodu, Surabhi Lakshmi got national awards discrimination subsided to a large extent,” he said.
He said in the scenario of the film industry, he considered himself as one belonging to an inferior caste and discrimination against artists in other fields of arts needed to be ended. He said the exhibition of sculptures of Rajan was a step towards ending discrimination. The exhibition was jointly inaugurated by Suresh Gopi and minister V. S. Sunil Kumar. Sahitya Akademi president Vaisakhan, actor Jayaraj Warrier, Lalithakala Akademi secretary Ponniam Chandran and others took part. On display are 83 works done on wood, stone and terracotta. The show will end on July 25.
