Kerala film awards row: BJP leader’s jibe over Muslim winners sparks outrage

“Marvelous..! Best Actress — Shamla Hamza, Actor — Mammootty, Special Jury Mention — Asif Ali, Character Actor — Soubin Sahir, Cinematographer — Shayju Khalid, Debutant Director — Fazil Mohammed. Such a marvel it is, in an election season.”

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The Facebook post filled with sarcasm from BJP leader B Gopalakrishnan appeared soon after the Kerala State Film Awards were announced. What might have sounded like flippant sarcasm on first reading was, in fact, a loaded political message — one that quickly resonated across the Hindutva social media ecosystem.

Right-wing backlash over awards

For years, the communal bile aimed at Kerala’s new generation of filmmakers had mostly come from faceless troll accounts and shadowy social media handles. This time, however, it surfaced in the words of a mainstream political leader, someone who has contested elections, holds an official position in the state BJP unit (the same BJP leader featured in the video Rahul Gandhi played in his “Vote Chori H” press conference). The steady drip of intolerance, once confined to anonymous online spaces, has now spilled into the statements of politicians with regional stature and national visibility.

The object of Gopalakrishnan’s sarcasm was not hard to decode. Among the list of winners were several Muslim artists and technicians — Shamla Hamza, Asif Ali, Shyju Khalid, and Fazil Mohammed — whose names he took care to highlight. The insinuation was clear: that the selection was guided not by merit but by political or religious appeasement, a charge often levelled by the right wing against Kerala’s Left-led government.

The post was quickly amplified by several pro-Hindutva handles, many of which have a long record of spreading misinformation and communal narratives about Kerala’s cultural and political life. Within hours, memes and abusive comments began to circulate, some questioning the “ideological leanings” of the award jury, others claiming that “left-leaning Islamists” were “taking over” Malayalam cinema.

Filmmakers caught in the crossfire

Interestingly, Muslim Women’s League leader Shahina Niyas also echoed a similar criticism, alleging that the government was trying to project token inclusivity by giving the Best Actress award to a hijab-clad actress, Shamla Hamza.

The rhetoric soon extended to rapper Vedan, who received a Special Mention. Gopalakrishnan mocked his award too, citing old sexual harassment allegations that had circulated online. He made no mention of due process or the fact that Vedan has consistently denied the charges. While several feminist activists had earlier voiced concern over those allegations, many Dalit activists believe they were fabricated to discredit him.

But the larger pattern was impossible to miss: the consistent targeting of Muslim names, artists associated with the new wave of cinema, and creative voices that challenge social orthodoxy.

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Malayalam cinema — long regarded as one of India’s most politically conscious film industries — has increasingly found itself in the crosshairs of Hindutva groups. What began in recent years as fringe trolling of films like Sudani from Nigeria, Halal Love Story, and Malik for their portrayals of Muslim social life, and of others such as Empuraan, Jana Gana Mana, and the blockbuster Lokah for even the faintest critique of the right wing or what they call “Sanatan culture,” has now evolved into a more organised ideological offensive.

Communal divide enters mainstream

“It’s a very worrisome trend that’s gaining momentum. It existed earlier too, but in today’s national political climate, people are coming out in the open with it,” said a senior director. “Now, Mammootty is being labelled a Muslim and Mohanlal a Nair. What used to be harmless and entertaining fan rivalry has taken on a communal tone, and right-wing politicians are actively feeding it.”

The Kochi-based new wave of filmmaking, which foregrounds pluralism, working-class lives, and minority experiences, stands in stark contrast to the religious nationalism the right wing seeks to advance. Alongside left-leaning directors like Rajeev Ravi and Aashiq Abu, a strong cluster of voices from Malabar, including filmmakers such as Zakariya Mohammed and Muhsin Parari, have brought to Malayalam cinema fresh perspectives on identity, faith, and social justice. Yet, their work has been routinely targeted by right-wing social media networks, accused of promoting “Islamist propaganda” merely because their films portray Muslim lives with nuance, dignity, and depth.

Until recently, much of this hostility was confined to nameless online spaces, troll accounts without faces or credibility. What’s changing now is the mainstreaming of that hate. Politicians like Gopalakrishnan are no longer subtle about echoing the same sentiments that used to be circulated in WhatsApp groups and fringe Facebook pages.

“It’s not just about cyber hate or trolling — the bias of the national ruling party is evident even in the way major awards are decided,” says PK Mohanakrishnan, a retired professor who was Mammootty’s contemporary in college. “Anyone can see that Mammootty has been consistently overlooked — he was bypassed for the Padma Bhushan while Mohanlal received it, and even for the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, which recognises lifetime contribution to cinema.”

Hindutva tests Kerala’s secularism

By alleging “appeasement” in award selections or “Islamisation” in film themes, the BJP seeks to insert communal suspicion into Kerala’s deeply secular artistic sphere, one of the few domains where Hindutva narratives have historically failed to gain traction.

“It’s about planting doubt,” says Vivek Shankar, a cinema enthusiast based in Kottayam. “If they can make even a small section believe that merit is being replaced by minority appeasement, they’ve already won the perception battle. It’s the same playbook used at the national level, just adapted to Kerala’s context.”

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What makes this narrative potent is its emotional simplicity — the idea that “Hindu artists are being sidelined” in their own state. The claim is demonstrably false, given that the awards went to a diverse mix of talents across communities. Yet, in an era where perception trumps fact, such narratives often travel faster than any rebuttal.

In Kerala, where political consciousness and cultural literacy run high, the resistance has been stronger. Yet, as this episode shows, the pressure is mounting. The shift from fringe trolling to overt political speech signals an emboldening of intolerance and a calculated effort to test the boundaries of Kerala’s secular resilience.