Mohanlal's views on demonetisation reflect selective amnesia

Travelling through Malabar region of Kerala in April this year ahead of the Assembly election, I stopped when I saw a serpentine queue outside a government-authorised wine shop in Kozhikode. A partial prohibition is in force in Kerala with only star hotels allowed to serve liquor.

There are beer and wine parlours but those addicted to the real thing throng these shops, which are few in number.

A person who identified himself as Chacko was trying to ensure order in the queue, even though he was himself inebriated.  

"Don't say anything bad about this line,'' he warned me, flashing his index finger menacingly. "My wife asks me to go and stand in the queue outside the ration shop to buy rice. Why would I? I will come and stand in this queue only.'' 

I found Chacko incoherent but there was admiration for his pearls of alcohol-inspired wisdom from others in the line, with some of them cheering him on. The bottomline was that the queue in front of the liquor shop in Kerala was sacroscant and not to be criticised.

Post-demonetisation, Kerala's craze for the small and the large has inspired jokes. Like this one which said : "PM Modi should either ask liquor shops to accept old notes or ask banks to sell liquor. We Malayalees can't stand in two queues daily.''

How come then Malayalam superstar Mohanlal was oblivious to Bacchus worship in the state where he too is deified?

In his latest blog titled "A big salute to virtuous India", Mohanlal praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi's demonetisation move, saying it was necessary in a country where "corruption has become a way of life''. 

But what got the actor in the firing line was his jibe at the liquor queues. "We stand in queue before liquor outlets, theatres and places of worship without any complaint. I think there is nothing wrong in standing in queue at a bank or ATM for a while for a good cause,'' he wrote. 

Mohanlal's blog had the effect of antagonising both the drinkers and the non-drinkers. The drinkers were angry that the actor had looked down upon their love for a drink. Because in the worldview of people like Chacko, it is not a waste of time.

The other half of Kerala was angry that Mohanlal had compared standing for hours outside banks and ATMs, struggling to withdraw a bit of their own hard-earned money, to a wasteful indulgence in liquor. 

Angry reactions poured in on social media, with critics starting a hashtag campaign called #TheCompleteDisaster, taking off on Mohanlal's title of "The Complete Actor".

They asked him if he had ever stood in a queue to be lecturing them on how it is to struggle to make ends meet, and pointing out that people have died waiting to get their money.

Others said that in wedding season, people are in dire straits because of an artificially created monetary crisis. Some of them even recalled income tax raids on his house in 2011, during which a couple of elephant tusks were recovered. 

The fact of the matter is that Mohanlal has shown himself as deeply disconnected from the ground reality, while attempting to preach from atop a pedestal.

In a state like Kerala, where just about everyone is politically aware and given to expressing opinion, this was asking for trouble.

While supporting demonetisation is Mohanlal's right as a free citizen of India, to turn a blind eye to the demise of over 70 people while standing in queues, smacked of selective amnesia.

For a realistic actor like Mohanlal, to ignore the reality of death was shocking. Therefore, Mohanlal was told by Kerala: "Lalettan, don't preach''.

And even though the barrage of criticism coming Lal's way would be deemed as intolerance, there is little sympathy because the actor's fans have been guilty of ugly trolling for many years now. 

Much of it is usually directed at actors whose films clash with Mohanlal's release. But in a recent instance last month, Nisha Menon, a resident of Thrissur was trolled for her Facebook post criticising Mohanlal's latest film, Pulimurugan. Nisha said the superstar's fans unleashed demeaning and abusive comments, including threats directed at her and her family. 

But it is not as if there are no supporters for Mohanlal's freedom of expression. It has become a political issue with the BJP, for obvious reasons, backing the actor.

The saffron backing, in turn, has raised doubts if there was a political motive to Mohanlal blogging in support of the PM's move. Kerala has recently seen movie thespian Suresh Gopi join the BJP and become a Rajya Sabha MP. Doubts over whether there is a quid pro quo are bound to arise. 

Mohanlal is known to pen down his thoughts in his blog to reach out to his fans directly, which is commendable. He does not shy away from writing on contentious topics, be it patriotism or the JNU controversy. 

But after this experience, it might be a better idea to know about things first hand before writing. Otherwise he will remain just an armchair blogger, with little idea of what is happening in the world outside.

Also read: Modi should take responsibility for people who have died due to demonetisation

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