People's Film Maker Sarat Chandran Remembered

Press Release

05 March, 2016
Countercurrents.org

Sarat Chandran

A Sarat Chandran commemoration was held under Youth Spring Fraternity at Hira Centre here at Kozhikode. He was like a good spirit in many popular social protest gatherings, recalled Ajims AS, who is a journalist. Sarat’s efforts in documenting popular protests and making it available for the public were beyond comparisons. He was also an active protestant in Kerala’s green protests.

He travelled the whole way along with the caravan for the preservation of Western Ghats from Kanyakumari to Goa and documented the same. Kerala’s green protests started not with the Silent Valley Preservation Protest, but with Chaliyar protest. This is evident through Sharat’s documentary on Chaliyar. It is through Sharat’s and P. Baburaj’s documentary, The Bitter Drink, that the public came to know about the protest of Adivasis against the Coca Cola Company at Plachimada.Ajims also recalled Sharat as a person who screened world classic movies throughout Kerala.

The Film Festival which will be held from May 21 to 23 at Kozhikode shall present a C Sarat Memorial Award and a cash prize of INR10,000 for the best Protest Documentary. Muhammed Shameem chaired the event. CM Shareef and Mirsad Rahman welcomed and thanked the guests respectively. Anees recited a poem in remembrance of Sharat.