KOZHIKODE: Director Ali Akbar on Thursday condemned the fund-raising for the needy among the film fraternity and eventually channelising the funds for some of the organisers. Soon after the news of the demise of scriptwriter T.A. Razaq came out, Mr Akbar had condemned the delaying of the death announcement for the sake of a stage show — ‘Mohanam’.
At a press conference here, he said that the relatives of the deceased should be freed of the 'shame' of public fund-raising and instead, the government should be able to give funds for the needy in the film field also. "Why did a person like Razaq have to be at the mercy of a private channel, to raise Rs 10 lakh, so that even his death could not be announced. He was a winner of several national and state awards. Can't the state government support him, when in a critical situation?" asked the director.
He also pointed out an earlier situation, where funds were raised for the family of lyricist Gireesh Puthenchery and later, was divided among others. He also alleged that there was no clarification on the Rs 25 lakh raised in the name of late Puthenchery. He added that Oommen Chandy was a better chief minister who offered support to Thilakan and Jagathy Sreekumar and "even that much mercy was not shown to a comrade like Razaq". He also said that his body should be cremated, instead of burying, since while he was a Muslim, his wife was a Christian, and therefore both of them could not be buried in the same place.
