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THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Bharatheeya Vichara Kendram director P Parameswaran has questioned the logic behind linking the Muziris project with the Indian edition of a foreign festival, Biennale, and criticised the vulgar portrayal of Kerala’s classical art form of Kathakali in the festival brochure.Express, in its Kochi edition, carried a report the other day on the controversy over the vulgar portrayal of Kathakali in the brochure which carries the picture of a painting in which a Kathakali artiste’s embellished head is shown fixed on the body of a muscleman wearing only a loin cloth and carrying a mace in his hand.Noted artistes such as Kalamandalam Gopi had expressed anguish and protest over the vulgar portrayal in the brochure for the Indian edition of an Italian festival, which is slated to showcase India’s rich cultural and social heritage, which will be taken around the world.The festival, the brainchild of former minister M A Baby, is expected to attract funding amounting to Rs 100 crore of which a major portion is from the Centre and State Governments.Responding to the news report, Parameswaran said that the shift in the interest of the stakeholders from archeological excavation to heritage project and now to conducting a foreign festival to promote tourism was a dubious one.“To start on an academic note, end up in heritage and tourism projects and link it with Biennale festival, the entire issue is surrounded by a kind of mystery. What I don’t understand is how does Pattanam excavation connected to Biennale, an Italian festival,’’ he said.A foreign festival, which is in no way connected to the excavation, should not be supported by the government. Now, the brochure reveals what they are aimed at. In the name of culture, in fact, they are denigrating the culture, Parameswaran said.
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