‘Ente Keralam' expo to begin in Kollam on May 11
Along with informative and entertaining sights, different cultural programmes and a food court serving a wide range of delicacies will be part of the event. Admission is free for the expo that will conclude on May 17.
The expo will be held in an area of 79,000 sq ft, including a 55,000 sq ft air-conditioned pavilion, from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. The welfare schemes and free services of the government will be showcased in 156 theme stalls. In 96 commercial stalls, there will be product displays and sales at fair prices from various departments and government agencies.
The main attractions include the Information and Public Relations department's exhibition showcasing the achievements of Kerala, an agricultural exhibition and trade fair, cultural and artistic programmes, a food festival, a book fair, sports, entertainment and knowledge-based programmes, a caravan tourism exhibition, a Startup Mission exhibition, science and technology exhibitions, a sports exhibition, a police dog show, a mini-theatre show, an exhibition introducing modern technologies, the sports and recreation sector, live competitions, quizzes, other activity corners, and selfie points.
While various departments will provide government services free of charge, seminars, art performances and career orientation programmes will also be part of Ente Keralam. Various programmes aimed at raising awareness against substance abuse will also be held.
Finance Minister K. N. Balagopal will inaugurate the event and Minister for Animal Husbandry and Dairy Development, J. Chinchurani, will preside over the function. Transport Minister K. B. Ganesh Kumar will deliver the keynote address while District Collector N. Devidas, Members of Parliament N. K. Premachandran, Kodikunnil Suresh, and K. C. Venugopal, and Members of the Legislative Assembly M. Mukesh, M. Noushad, Sujith Vijayan Pillai, G. S. Jayalal, Kovoor Kunjumon, P. S. Supal, P. C. Vishnunath, and C. R. Mahesh will also attend.
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NDTV
12 hours ago
- NDTV
The Real Gopal Patha vs What His Family Says About His Bengal Files Character By Vivek Agnihotri
The Bengal Files is weeks away from its theatrical release on September 5, 2025 and as it is with every Vivek Agnihotri film, this one too is creating controversy. After The Tashkent Files and The Kashmir Files, the filmmaker has set the third piece of his Files trilogy in West Bengal, which was initially titled The Delhi Files. According to the makers, they changed the title of the film to The Bengal Files as the backdrop of the movie's storyline centres around the 1946 Great Calcutta Killings and the Noakhali riots. The timing of the film is also allegedly a bit too much on the nose with the West Bengal Legislative Assembly elections expected to be held in March-April 2026. For now, The Bengal Files controversy centres around Gopal 'Patha' Mukherjee, who played a pivotal role in protecting Hindus during the 1946 riots. Who Was Gopal Patha Gopal Patha, whose real name was Gopal Mukherjee, was a key figure during the Great Calcutta Killings in 1946. In an interview with The Print, Gopal Patha's grandson Santanu Mukherjee spoke about his grandfather's role in the communal clashes and killings that rocked the city after the Muslim League's call Direct Action Day on August 16, 1946. "My grandfather took up arms during the Great Calcutta Killings to save Hindus from marauding Muslim rioters that were killing men, raping women and burning down Hindu properties. But he bore no ill will towards Muslims," Santanu Mukherjee said, adding that his grandfather also saved innocent Muslims during the Great Calcutta Killings. Santanu Mukherjee's claims mirror Gopal Patha's comments in a 1997 interview with journalist Andrew Whitehead. The journalist asked Gopal Patha, "If your boys found a Muslim woman alone, would they misbehave?" In his response, he said, "I had given strict orders not to misbehave with women because a person's character is very important. We couldn't have achieved anything by misbehaving with women, that person would be a renegade. "I had given strict orders not to misbehave with women, not kill any women. In fact, we have seen in our history, that after misbehaving with women, even Ravan was destroyed. So, I had given strict orders to my boys. One was do not loot, and another was do not misbehave with women." Later in his blog, Andrew Whitehead also wrote about Gopal Patha explaining that his nickname of 'Patha', meaning goat in Bengali, came from the family meat shop on College Street in Kolkata. How The Bengal Files Trailer Portrays Gopal Patha In the trailer of the film, the character of Gopal Patha, sporting a prominent red tilak on his forehead, sits in front of an idol of Goddess Kali and addresses a gathering of people. He says, " Bharat Hinduon Ka Rashtra Hai. Par iss yuddh mein Hindu haar rahe hain. Aur jeet kaun raha hai? Jinnah. Kyunki hum sab nashe mein choor hain and iss nashe ka naam hai Gandhi ki ahimsa (India is a Hindu nation. But the Hindus are losing this war. And who's winning? Jinnah. Because we all are intoxicated. And the name of that intoxication is Gandhi's non-violence)." Gopal Patha is also seen hacking people left, right, and centre. In the film, Bengali actor Saurav Das -- who was the star campaigner for the ruling Trinamool Congress party in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls -- plays the role of Gopal Patha. What Vivek Agnihotri Said About The Controversy Around Gopal Patha At the trailer launch event of The Bengal Files in Delhi on Monday, Vivek Agnihotri addressed the controversy around the portrayal of Gopal Patha in his film. The director said Gopal Patha in his film is an inspired character and not central to the plot. "I will not go into his history. Watch Santanu's interview. I can give you all the links. There is an interview of Gopal Mukherjee on BBC. In that interview, what he has said, we have only shown that much. "I have nothing to do with Gopal Mukherjee's life, politics. He was a hero and I have shown him as a hero... I respect Gopal Mukherjee a lot. His grandsons work with TMC. There is a compulsion there... They have done it legally. We are giving a legal answer to that," Vivek Agnihotri said at the event. Actor Saurav Das, who plays the role of Gopal Patha in The Bengal Files, has now distanced himself from the film in the wake of the controversy. "I only knew about my character. I was not aware of the script. That's how work is done nowadays. It's a very strong character that I was offered. And it's a Hindi film where actors from all over the country have worked. I am nobody compared to the stars who have worked in the film," he told TV9 Bangla. "If I play Hitler one day that wouldn't turn me into a Nazi supporter," he said, underscoring how he was just an actor playing a character in a film. What Gopal Patha's Family Is Saying About The Controversy Gopal Patha's grandson Santanu Mukherjee has sent a legal notice to Vivek Agnihotri for maligning his grandfather's name, followed by filing an FIR against The Bengal Files filmmaker. He has alleged that the director referred to Gopal Patha as " Ek Tha Kasai Gopal Patha (Once Upon A Time There Was A Butcher Called Gopal Patha)" in a personal reel. In a statement to India Today, Santanu Mukherjee said, "My grandfather was called Kasai, also called Patha, which means goat -- and that is disrespectful. He was not a butcher. He was a wrestler, a freedom fighter, and a member of the Anushilan Samiti. His ideology was aligned with Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, and he worked closely with several other freedom fighters. How can anyone reduce him to such labels?" Santanu Mukherjee also alleged that The Bengal Files director didn't reach out to the family during the making of the film. "Vivek Agnihotri should research more on this. From where did they get this wrong information? He has not contacted us either. In protest, we have sent a legal notice to Vivek Agnihotri and also filed an FIR." The Bengal Files is up for its theatrical release on September 5, 2025. It boasts of credible actors as part of the ensemble cast including Vivek Agnohotri's wife, actor Pallavi Joshi; Anupam Kher, Mithun Chakraborty, Saswata Chatterjee, Rajesh Khera, Puneet Issar, and Dibyendu Bhattacharya. A controversy ensures that a film dominates headlines, especially in the age of social media. There's also a section of people who insist that people shouldn't look at movies as medium to impart a history lesson, but then there is the other section that slams the culture of movies that aim to take liberties with history under the license of 'creative freedom'. While the jury is still out on whether The Bengal Files has distorted historical facts, this film is bound to remain in the news for days to come.
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First Post
02-08-2025
- First Post
Honouring 'The Kerala Story' endorses use of films to spread communal hatred, says CM Pinarayi Vijayan
The film had courted controversy for its portrayal of women in Kerala being forcefully converted and recruited by the terror group Islamic State. read more Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Saturday said that awarding national film honours to 'The Kerala Story' can only be seen as an endorsement of attempts to misuse movies to spread communal hatred and urged the cultural and film community to oppose such moves unitedly. Vijayan said it was 'extremely unfortunate' that a film which insults Kerala's secular traditions and defames it before the world was honoured at the national film awards. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD 'This also insults the great cultural heritage of Indian cinema and sends out the message that art should be used to destroy the secularism of our country and replace it with communalism,' he said, prior to inaugurating the Kerala Film Policy Conclave here. He said that the film community needs to wake up against such a 'distorted' portrayal of Kerala and put an end to such moves. Filmmaker Sudipto Sen won the Best Director award for his film 'The Kerala Story', which also received the award for Best Cinematography. The film had courted controversy for its portrayal of women in Kerala being forcefully converted and recruited by the terror group Islamic State. Vijayan also said that it needs to be examined why the Kerala film industry has not received the level of recognition it deserves and hoped that it would be a topic of discussion at the conclave held at the Sankaranarayanan Thampi Hall inside the Legislative Assembly complex in Thiruvananthapuram. He further said that the conclave was organised with the aim of formulating a comprehensive film policy for the all-round growth and development of Malayalam cinema, as it was imperative to modernise and expand it with the changing times. State Cultural Affairs Minister Saji Cherian, who presided over the event, said that it was decided to hold such a conclave following the recommendations in the Justice Hema Committee report to tackle issues of sexual exploitation, discrimination, wage disparity and unfair working conditions prevalent in the film industry. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The committee was constituted based on the demands of the Women in Cinema Collective (WCC) after the 2017 actress assault incident. Around 500 delegates, including representatives from the Malayalam film industry like Mohanlal and Suhasini Maniratnam, film personalities from outside the state and abroad, participated in the conclave.
Time of India
02-08-2025
- Time of India
Honouring 'The Kerala Story' endorses use of films to spread communal hatred, says CM Vijayan
Live Events (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Saturday said that awarding national film honours to ' The Kerala Story ' can only be seen as an endorsement of attempts to misuse movies to spread communal hatred and urged the cultural and film community to oppose such moves said it was "extremely unfortunate" that a film which insults Kerala's secular traditions and defames it before the world was honoured at the national film awards "This also insults the great cultural heritage of Indian cinema and sends out the message that art should be used to destroy the secularism of our country and replace it with communalism," he said, prior to inaugurating the Kerala Film Policy Conclave said that the film community needs to wake up against such a "distorted" portrayal of Kerala and put an end to such moves. Filmmaker Sudipto Sen won the Best Director award for his film 'The Kerala Story', which also received the award for Best film had courted controversy for its portrayal of women in Kerala being forcefully converted and recruited by the terror group Islamic also said that it needs to be examined why the Kerala film industry has not received the level of recognition it deserves and hoped that it would be a topic of discussion at the conclave held at the Sankaranarayanan Thampi Hall inside the Legislative Assembly complex in further said that the conclave was organised with the aim of formulating a comprehensive film policy for the all-round growth and development of Malayalam cinema , as it was imperative to modernise and expand it with the changing Cultural Affairs Minister Saji Cherian, who presided over the event, said that it was decided to hold such a conclave following the recommendations in the Justice Hema Committee report to tackle issues of sexual exploitation, discrimination, wage disparity and unfair working conditions prevalent in the film committee was constituted based on the demands of the Women in Cinema Collective (WCC) after the 2017 actress assault 500 delegates, including representatives from the Malayalam film industry like Mohanlal and Suhasini Maniratnam, film personalities from outside the state and abroad, participated in the conclave.
