Kerala is where you poke fun with no fear or favour

KOCHI: From Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan's guffaw-inducing mispronounciations to K M Mani's `budget briefcase' and Saritha's `pen-drive', satire in the form of comic skits and mimicry , directed at political figures has long been welcomed by Malayalis.
Comedians and mimicry artists have always had it easy with politicians, actors and religious leaders in the state, who took care to take criticism gracefully .This is in sharp contrast to the case of Kiku Sharda, who was arrested for mimicking Dera Sacha Sauda chief, Gurmet Ram Rahim Singh.
Cinemala on Asianet was the first televised program to showcase political satire, and producer Diana Sylvester says that though 1,000 episodes of the show has been aired there was only one occasion when they were informed that a politican's sentiments were hurt. But eventually , it turned out to be false. “We have always recieved a positive response from politicans who says that they use the satire as a means to correct habits or mistakes that they make. Late K Karunakaran's daughter once told us that her father would be upset on days when he wasn't featured on the show,“ said Diana.
Artists and comedians are of the view that Kerala mind with its satirical bend had always been open to the idea of poking fun at the high and mighty . “People need to be reminded that everyone is human and that we all make mistakes. And it is always good to be able to laugh at one self. We criticize and make fun of actions, not people,“ says Prasanth Kanjiramittom, a comedian who rose to fame with his TV program `Jagathy Jagathymayam' on Kairali TV . “Till date, I ha ven't faced any sort of harassment in name of my comedy from anyone,“ he said.
Politicians welcome such artists and shows as long as they toe the line during the performances. “Such programs can be seen as freedom of expression, but, the artists must ensure that they do not spread communal hatred and practice self-restraint,“ said chief minister Oommen Chandy .
Though many artists said they had a smooth sailing, Kottayam Nazeer says his jokes were not taken kindly after he satirized Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan for mispronouncing names during a film award function. “It was a routine political skit about Thiruvanchoor's tongue slips. I apologized to him so as to maintain the cordial rela tion we have.“ Nazeer said.