Film institute row: Jeo Baby withdraws 'Freedom Fight' from Kannur festival

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Director Jeo Baby withdraws film from Kannur festival in protest against Adoor Gopalakrishnan 'The Great Indian Kitchen' director Jeo Baby has withdrawn his film 'Freedom Fight' from the Happiness International Film Festival organised by the Kerala Chalachithra Academy.
The director took the decision after the academy decided to invite ace filmmaker Adoor Gopalakrishnan to inaugurate the event. The filmmaker Gopalakrishnan has been in the eye of a controversy after students and the sanitation workers at the K R Narayanan Film Institute began protests against the institute chairman Shankar Mohan, who allegedly behaved with a casteist mentality on several occassions.
The students alleged that Adoor Gopalakrishnan, who is the chairman of the film institute, was protecting the institute director and has not taken any action against him. "Our film Freedom Fight has been selected for the Happiness International Film Festival. We have decided to withdraw our film from the festival as the academy has invited Adoor Gopalakrishnan for the inaugural ceremony. We demand legal action against both Adoor Gopalakrishnan and Shankar Mohan for the casteist discrimination faced by students at the insitute," he said.