Air India Express plans to change its base to Kerala
Published January 21, 2011 | 
New Year has brought cheer to the tourism industry in Kerala with the announcement of the plan to shift the head quarters of Air India Charters Ltd (AICL), which operates flights under the brand name of Air India Express.
By shifting its base to Kerala, this low-cost arm of national carrier Air India that operates most of its services to the Gulf and South-East Asia would ensure better connectivity. It would also be of great service to the tourists and scores of Keralites who work in these regions.
A press release from the airline said that, during the meeting of the Board of AICL on October 8 it was decided to shift all of Air India Express’s operational and administrative functions to Kochi whereas the engineering functions of AICL would be at Thiruvananthapuram. At present, this domestic carrier connects 16 Indian cities to 14 international destinations and operates a fleet of 21 Boeing 737-800 aircraft.
No presents out… "paid presence" in – Wedding issues in South Kerala
Published June 21, 2010 | 
Though it might sound strange, weddings in Poonthura, a small fishing hamlet near the state capital Thiruvananthapuram have become exclusive affairs for only a handful of invitees. The hamlet is thickly populated and is dotted with closely packed fisherman’s cottages who sustain a hand to mouth existence.
Christian weddings in the Poonthura area have of late become less well attended family affairs even when both the bride and groom hail from the same place. Though it might sound surprising, a closer look will reveal a few unpleasant truths. On any wedding day you will see many people waiting outside the church where the wedding is being solemnized without actually attending the wedding mass. Guess why? Only those who have paid Rs. 300 to the bride’s family are entitled to participate in the wedding and the ensuing feast! The spiralling cost of gold, clothes and the wedding feast have made it very difficult to marry off their daughters without the financial help from the community. So, those who cannot afford to pay, will have to wait outside the church till the marriage function is over. All they can do is to shower the newly wedded couple with blessings once they come out of the aisle. They share jokes, smile and tease the groom and when the marriage party moves on to the auditorium for the wedding feast these hapless local men and women walk back to their crumbling seaside shacks!
It is sad to note that with the trawling ban-induced lean fishing period already on, these families may not be able to take part in any wedding at least for the next few months.
Rejoinder: Any marriage should be a memorable and joyous occasion instead of a debt ridden burden. Say ‘YES’ to dowry free weddings and make sure that it remains a happy moment for the family and local community. The religious institutions in Kerala can spearhead a movement to promote dowry free marriages to save the population from misery and debts. Remember, marriages are made in heaven and why should man make it a harrowing experience?
A ‘hi’ to Biju Viswanath, my friend, our friend, in the US…
Published May 26, 2010 | Hi Biju! How are you? And how goes your filming? Hope everything goes smooth and fine…
Hey, you don’t know Biju Viswanath, the guy from Thiruvananthapuram, who is now making his presence felt on an international level? The man who directed a film in Malayalam and then cranked the camera for the Mammootty-starrer ‘Phantom’ and the K.Balachander-directed Tamil film ‘Poi’ and the guy who had given the much appreciated Paddy Fletcher-Simon Binns starrer ‘Deja vu’ in English, is now going places, literally.
I have known Biju personally ever since he was filming ‘Deja vu’. I came into contact with him as a film journalist. But that grew into a personal kind of relationship and we have always been discussing movies, people and other things, but of course movies in the main. Because of his passion for films, Biju had quit his job as a college lecturer and took to making films, full-time.
‘Deja vu’ was appreciated a lot as a film that was multi-layered and at the same time technically brilliant (Biju is a brilliant cinematographer too, with a passion for cameras of all kind). Then, after ‘Deja vu’, he made ‘Mahotsav’ (aka Grand Festival), which was premiered at the Pusan Film Festival. The film, set in North India, was a brilliant satire. The passion that he had for films took Biju places after that. He did a short film in Hindi, ‘Parwaaz’ (Flight) and then went on to do two films in the Irish language, ‘Lorg’ and ‘Rian’, shot entirely in Ireland. Then it was a film in Japanese, titled ‘Oshizemi’. But in between intervals Biju used to come home, to Thiruvananthapuram, and we used to meet once in a while, and spend time, discussing, as usual about films.
Then, one fine morning, Biju Viswanath flies to the US, all set to make a film on Poet William Meredith. The film, ‘Marathon’, based on a book by the poet’s friend Richard Harteis, received two awards for best cinematography and best screenplay in New York Film Festival and it was selected to Swansea film festival in UK,and Port Louis film festival in Florida. The cinematographer-filmmaker who wants to make films that stand out of course visited Kerala once last year and is now back in the US, where he is at present engaged in the making of another film, ‘Viola’. Biju, who is in regular contact with me, recently let me know about the film through an e-mail, which I am adding here, for a correct picture of what ‘Viola’ is:
Dear Unni
How are you
Finally the shoot of “viola” is completed
It was a very long and hard shoot because of the very cold weather in New York
It’s a romance /mystery
The main role is played by a very good actress Julie Kilzer (www.juliekilzer.com)
Male lead is played by Peter O’Connor
Other main actors are Beverly Hayes,Bristol Pomeroy,Arthur Rosbery Yoder and Nick Dullea
I am attaching some stills and also the synopsis
Best Regards
Biju
As per the synopsis of ‘Viola’, sent by Biju, it’s the story of a beautiful German girl working in a Jewish bakery in New York City who gets a phone call from Marlene Dietrich, the late actress and singer. The search for the mysterious caller leads her to revelations of love, her true self and a deeper mystery.
Wow, seems interesting. Carry on Biju…We’ll be expecting more from you, as a filmmaker. And here’s hoping you’ll soon be back in Kerala, to give me company with those never-ending discussions….
A post without a title… From Karmakerala, with love!
Published May 20, 2010 | Shyama, my colleague, wants me to write out a post…..
Now, what shall I write? Confusion indeed…
It’s been cloudy since yesterday, with rains lashing out now and then. It’s a relief, from the scorching summer heat, but I’m feeling terribly sleepy. If given a chance, I’d simply shirk work and go have a nice sleep….Oh, no! I need to earn by bread n’ butter, nay, my Kanji and Curry. So better sit on and write on, after all I am paid to write….
I suddenly remember that the Kerala State Government had yesterday declared 2010 as the ‘Coir Year’. I ask Shyama if I may write about that. Pat comes the reply, over Skype, “Cottage industry, indigenous industry… wah bhai wah!”. Yes indeed. It’s good that the government has decided to announce the year as ‘ Coir Year’ and also has taken the initiative to launch various schemes aimed at uplifting people engaged in the coir industry.
Well, I happen to hail from the Thiruvananthapuram district. There are places near my hometown Varkala where dwell people who are part of the coir industry. But I feel the number of such people are dwindling, with more of our people looking out for making big money with not-so-indigenous methods.
Well, big money is no crime, if it’s not made in an illicit manner. But it’s sad to see indigenous industries going the wrong way. Anyway, kudos to the State Govt for taking the initiative and also for thinking of raising the pay given to coir workers from Rs. 100 per day to Rs 150 per day.
But, is that what I want to write about?
I look out and see vehicles ply on the road. It rained just half an hour ago; in fact it’s drizzling even now. My thoughts wander a bit….
The monsoons are supposed to arrive in a week’s time.
It’s this monsoon, known in Malayalam as the Edava paathi, especially as it comes almost by mid-Edavam (Edavam being a month in the Malayalam calendar), that’s made use of by farmers all over Kerala.
It’s this monsoon, the South West Monsoon that solves water-scarcity related problems and fills up wells, ponds, rivers etc.
It’s this monsoon that used to drench school kids on school re-opening day.
Hey, Did I say ‘used to’. Yes indeed! It no longer comes with that kind of precision, lament many of my friends. I too tend to agree. There was a time when the monsoon would unfailingly greet school kids walking past fields and through narrow village roads.
As a school-boy, when I used to visit Kerala during my summer vacations in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, I used to enjoy seeing this, sitting in my grandfather’s shop, which used to be there by the side of paddy fields and from where I could catch the sight of a school by the road, almost half a kilometre away.
The school is there. But alas, the shop is not there. Many of the paddy fields too are not there. My grandfather is no more. And no more can I see those many sights that characterised the Edava Paathi. But still, Edava Paathi has its own beauty, its own charm in Kerala.
But I wonder how many of our people are pondering as to whether they would be able to till their fields and sow the seeds or not. Paddy fields are vanishing all around us. Why bother? We get rice, brought in from the other states!!
And what if the paddy fields and marshes disappearing is affecting the water-table? It’s going to affect the next generation only! And we can get mineral water, sold to us at Rs 10 or Rs 15 per litre. (Am sad indeed as I happen to drink well water, unprocessed and unboiled, even now when I visit my home-town, where the well is real deep and the water still pure, unpolluted and cool. But in Ernakulam, I am forced to shell out money and buy mineral water or else get the insipid water from the taps and boil it and gulp it down, to quench my thirst. It cools off the body, but not the mind!)
Hey…I am digressing! Better not…Shyama is our editor. She is also officiating as the team leader for our bunch of writers at Karmakerala. If she is vexed at me, all hell will break loose. She can put in a word against me with our bosses Thejal, Mark and Sholto. Oh no, Shyama is my friend….
God bless you, Shyama! But God knows, God only knows perhaps that I am damn tired…can’t write, er, type out one more line….
Will wind up with this…for today!!!
Vyloppilli, the Kerala Police and the end of the world…
Published May 13, 2010 | Hey, what has the poet Vyloppilli Sreedhara Menon got to do with Kerala Police? What the hell is the connection between Kerala Police and the end of the world?
Hey I can see people scowl and smirk and grumble and mumble, maybe saying that this guy has gone nuts.
Well, crazy that I am, I’d like to save time or rather save effort by writing one single blog instead of three different ones. At the same time, I’d present three scattered pictures, which I happen to catch on the move, which are pieces that sync in with the mosaic that is life in Kerala.
Well let’s begin with Vyloppilli and then move over. I’d better put it down under different sub-headings, for those who have been reading, or rather, tolerating my blogs….
Remembering Vyloppilli??!!
So how many of us remember Vyloppilli? Well, many of my colleagues at Karmakerala and many of our readers are familiar with his poems, I guess. But the question remains. How many of us remember him?
Well, day before yesterday, on the 11th of May, I was riding my bike, when I got a call from yet another friend, a college-mate of mine. “Come over. There’s something going on here, at the Park near my flat. Old-time songs…” Well. That was tempting. He knew that. We used to go to such musical evenings together in our college days, in Thiruvananthapuram.
I rushed there, along with my friend who is a constant companion in my wanderings. It was the Vyloppilli Memorial park in Kaloor, Kochi- an almost non-desrcipt and deserted place on other days. (I had spent a peaceful hour there a few weeks back along with these two friends and of course lots of mosquitoes too).
Well, there was a gathering there, a small one comprising of people who lived nearby, with families. A guy, who, like most other aspiring-to-be-famous singers, was speaking on the mike about noted singer K.J.Yesudas, referring to him as his ‘guru’. And then, he started singing. Of course the songs, which was sung to the accompaniment of Karaoke music, were well-sung. Those were some of the most memorable of songs too. But what caught my eye was the audience reaction. Most of them seemed to be in an ‘outing’ kind of mood, not at all listening to the song and busy with other thoughts and activities. A few songs later we bid adieu to the place, only to realize later, on surfing the net that it was the birth anniversary of Vyloppilli Sreedhara Menon.
Well, did anyone gathered there bother to spare a thought on the gifted poet whose contribution to Malayalam literature is considerable great? Well, did I?
Krzysztof Kieślowski and the Kerala Police
Well, of late I have been seeing in Kochi a bunch of cops, who are in charge of the traffic regulation and all, waiting at some places, equipped with a handycam like apparatus, one that’s used to check on vehicles that go against speed regulations. Those who err are brought to book. Well, it’s good. I am for it. But there’s a rather impish thought that crosses my mind whenever I come across these guys.
I am reminded of the renowned Polish filmmaker Krzysztof Kieślowski and his memorable film ‘Camera Buff’. The protagonist of the movie, a humble factory worker procures a camera, shoots everything he comes across. This newfound hobby or rather obsession, that of making amateur films, affects his life in a big way, disrupting things. The film ends with the protagonist turning the camera on himself.
Well, I wonder as to when our cops will turn these cameras to themselves and to those many Government vehicles which flout all traffic regulations and get away with it. Like the protagonist in ‘Camera Buff’, our cops too seem obsessed with panning the camera and of course their vision too at people around them, especially those who ride motorbikes and those who drive autorickshaws. I can’t help appreciating these duty conscious cops who are so concerned about your safety that they won’t let you ride your bike without your helmet or without the chin-strap of the helmet in place. Why bother if the big fishes get away? It’s after all a matter of public safety.
Well…Jayan, my colleague at Karmakerala recently shot, using his cellphone camera, a cop riding on a bike without a helmet. Poor guy, Jayan. He doesn’t know. Cops are for protecting us. They are least concerned about their own safety and hence they don’t need helmets.
Guys out to save the world!!
Yesterday evening, as I was waiting at a roadside garage to get a minor repair done to my motorbike, I happened to hear someone delivering a speech on a mike. Since it’s a common thing on our streets, with politicians and all sorts of people making wayside speeches, I didn’t pay any attention to that. But a few minutes later, I saw the guy making the speech.
A middle-aged guy, with a microphone in his hand was making the speech and the speakers, or rather small mikes, were fixed to both the ends of his motorbike, a rather new one parked beside him.
Curiosity impelled me to pay attention to his words. Wow, seems to be genuinely worried about the world and people around him. He is speaking of issues of social relevance, of crimes increasing day by day, of atrocities on women, of price rise. A one-man crusade?! Oh no, he is digressing. It’s now about all these small mishaps and problems pointing towards the possibility of the end of the world.
“Poor guy”, I tell my friend, “These guys don’t understand that all these things- murders, thefts, robberies etc- have been happening always. Now since the population is increased, we have it in even larger numbers and since the media is so bent on getting us news of such things, we get to know of these things more”. My friend seemed to agree on that.
The bike is repaired. We decide to take a look at what it’s all about. We pass by him, take a U-turn and come back. By the time, it’s another man who’s delivering the speech. Yet another guy is handing over pamphlets. There is a banner displayed, a small one, which reads, “Njaan (Yeshu) Vegam Varunnu”, referring to Jesus’ coming to save mankind.
Well, faith. We all need that; to live on in this world, which would be very much arid, but for faith. But was that faith in its purest form?
Well, time to move on, for a cup of tea…..
Attukal Pongala- The world's largest festival for women
Published March 1, 2010 | 
Listed in the Guinness book of world records, Attukal Pongala is the largest festival for women in the world. It was celebrated with religious fervour and gaiety at the state capital of Thuiruvananthapuram on Sunday and was attended by over 30 lakh women devotees from all over Kerala and outside. Most of them reached the city days in advance to book vantage spots near the temple to set up the hearths where “pongala”, the sweet porridge made of rice, jaggery and coconut was cooked as the offering for the goddess. In places like Thampanoor, long lines of devotees were seen on the sides of the road with even the nook and corners of the city occupied by devotees.
Arrangements were made weeks in advance and residents associations and clubs played a very proactive role in ensuring the smooth conduct of this festival, which involved meticulous planning and coordination in a massive scale. The rituals of the day began with early morning purification ceremony after which the chief priest handed over the lamp to light the hearth in the temple kitchen, ‘tidappalli, from where the light was transferred to a hearth outside the temple from which it was moved to all the Pongala hearths in quick succession, when the whole city became covered with a thick blanket of smoke.
Volunteers were seen distributing drinking water and lemonade as the mercury soared at noon . Arrangements to provide free noon meals were also in place ; even autorickshaws were plying for free for the benefit of the devotees who had come from far off places . Once the pongala was made, the priests sprinkled holy water to sanctify the offerings while helicopters hovered above, showering floral petals on the hearth, to signify the culmination of the ceremony, which is celebrated by the city as a whole with no barriers of religion and caste and this is what makes this festival so very special!
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KSRTC Volvo buses started in Kochi
Published December 31, 2009 | 
For many Kochiites, it was rather a thrilling experience to have travelled in the AC Volvo bus run by KSRTC‘s city service. On Wednesday (30.12.2009) Morning at 7 ‘O’ clock Kochi‘s KSRTC Volvo buses started off their maiden trip and ended at 10 pm. Many awaited eagerly and patiently to have a Volvo experience to reach their offices or houses. On the first day trip, the buses were delayed on consecutive trips due to traffic blocks. Of the seven Volvo buses, three plied between Fort Kochi and Nedumbassery, while four buses conducted service in the Aroor-Angamaly route.
Travelling in the Volvo is indeed a luxury. Most buses plying on this route were filled to capacity. But the only problem is that you will have to sacrifice a lot of time to enjoy this luxury. From Aroor to Ankamali you will be charged Rs. 68 and from Fort Kochi to Nedumbasseri Rs. 70. Eventhough, the bus fares are something that won’t fit to the daily expenses of an ordinary man, the greater facility is that, you can travel daily in a luxury bus without facing any hassles unlike other private buses operating in the city. The gutters and the zig-zags of the Kochi roads will not affect the smooth and happy journey of travellers in these orange coloured Volvo buses.
The bus employees dressed in variations of blue colour shirts and trousers, are specially trained to make you feel more comfortable inside. The place names appear on the board in English and Malayalam. Songs are played all the while you travel, so that you don’t have to feel bored. A fully automatic controlling system enables you to get inside and outside the bus easily. The door is controlled by the driver with a press button. 
Union Minister of State for Agriculture K V Thomas on Monday inaugurated the much-awaited Volvo low-floor bus service in the city. Seven of the 50 low-floor automatic Volvo buses earmarked for Kochi under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) scheme were flagged off at Vytilla Junction. The minister hopes that these hi-tech buses would attract more people towards the public transport system, thereby easing the traffic congestion on the city roads. In Thiruvananthapuram, the Volvo buses are not very successful. The Kerala State Road Transport Corporation(KSRTC) will have to bear the additional liability if the bus service does not reach upto the break-even level, The minister noted.
Anyway let’s hope that these Volvo buses would meet the demands of all those who love a luxury travel.
IFFK ends: 'Jermal' and 'About Elly' share top honours
Published December 19, 2009 | 
The Indonesian film ‘Jermal’ and the Iranian film ‘About Elly’ share top honours at the 14th IFFK (International Film Festival of Kerala), which concluded at Thiruvananthapuram yesterday.The awards:
- ‘Jermal’, directed by Ravi Barwani and ‘About Elly’, directed by Asghar Farhadi, have been chosen to share the Golden Crow Pheasant (Suvarna Chakoram).
- ‘True Noon’ from Tadjikistan, directed by Nosir Saidov, bagged the Silver Crow Pheasant Award (Rajata Chakoram) for the best director and ‘My Secret Sky’ from South Africa, directed by Madoda Ncayiyana, the Silver Crow Pheasant Award for the best debut director.
- ‘True Noon’ also bagged the Audience award, being voted the best film by the delegates who took part in the festival.
- The Marathi film ‘Harischandrachi Factory’, directed by Paresh Mokashi, got the Hassankutty Award for the best Indian debut director while Ranjith’s ‘Kerala Cafe’ got the NETPAC Award for the best Malayalam film.
- ‘A Fly in Ashes’ by Argentinean filmmaker Gabriela David got the FIPRESCI Award for the best film).
- ‘Paththaam Nilayile Theevandi’, directed by Joshy Mathew won the FIPRESCI Award for the best Malayalam film.
- ‘Jermal’ directed by Ravi Bharwani was awarded the NETPAC Award for the best Asian film in the competition section.
The festival
The IFFK, which has won over the years a reputation for itself, got on to its 14th editing with veteran filmmaker Mrinal Sen lighting the inaugural lamp on Dec 11 and the Turkish film, ‘A Step into Darkness,’ directed by Atil Inaq being screened as the inaugural film.
More than 160 films were screened, in different sections, in eight theatres in Thiruvananthapuram. The competition section had 14 entries, including two Malayalam films- Priyanandanan’s ‘Sufi Paranja Katha’ and Madhu Kaithapram’s ‘Madhyavenal’.
The retrospective sections included films by Mexican director Arturo Ripstein, Japanese filmmaker Mikio Naruse, French filmmaker Jaques Tati and Indian filmmakers Mrinal Sen and Lohithadas. There was a package of films by Italian director Francesco Rosi and homage section dedicated to the memories of Murali, Madhavikutty, Shobhana Parameshwaran Nair, Rajan.P.Dev, K.P.Thomas and Adoor Bhavani.
The contemporary masters section had films by Raul Peck and Pen-ek Ratanaruang while there were Country focus films on Cuba and films from contemporary Africa. There was also a section for debut films and a package called ’50 years of French New Wave’.
A first hand account
IFFK has been part of my life-plan ever since it began in Thiruvananthapuram. Of course the IFFK had its beginnings in Kozhikode in a small way, but I have been proud to be a part of all the editions of IFFK that has been held in the capital city, Thiruvananthapuram, the city with which I have had a strong emotional bonding, like many of my friends and peers.
Well, when I took the early train from Kochi on the 12th of December, aiming to make as much of the film festival as possible in the four days that were at my disposal, I didn’t know that the train would be a bit late and I’d have to miss out on one show due to problems relating to procuring my entry pass for the fest. Anyway, with timely help provided by the Chalachitra Academy Secretary Dr.K.S.Sreekumar (who’s also the Executive Director of the festival) and others, I managed to get my pass in hand, all laminated and ready by 1 pm. Then on, it was, as usual, reading the synopsis of different movies in the festival book and moving on to theatres after theatres eager to catch up with films after films.
The crowds seemed to be there, eager to lap up all the films, especially the contemporary ones and the competition films. The four days that I spent at Thiruvananthapuram, as usual, was nothing less than great, a real good break from my usual work and other chores, a departure from the mundane and a take off to things that would propel me to be happy and contented with the mundane things till the next edition of the IFFK, the 15th IFFK.
I liked being part of the crowd in seeing films like ‘Jermal’, ‘True Noon’, ‘About Elly’, ‘Dream’ (there were friends joking that the director Kim Ki-Duk has no admirers in Korea and his admirers are all here, in Kerala), ‘Sweet Rush’ etc. (Well, there were people sitting even on the floor, all crammed up, to watch these films).
I also took time to watch in peace some of the films that didn’t attract that much of a crowd, like P.A.Backer’s ‘Manimuzhakkam’ (which I had been desiring to see for a long time), Cheran’s ‘Pokkisham’ and Saeed Mirza’s ‘Ek Tho Chance’; and I was pleased to see a fairly good number of people coming to see Francois Truffaut’s 1962 movie ‘Jules et Jim’, one of the most talked about movies of all times.
At the same time, I regretted being not able to see some of the most talked about movies in the festival, including ‘Anti Christ’ and ‘Shirin’. I longed to re-visit films in the Mrinal Sen retrospective, most of which I had seen earlier. (Well, that happens in all film festivals, especially when you have to choose from seven or eight films that are being screened simultaneously).
The talks that I had about with films with friends and festival regulars and people from the world of films like Thampy Antony (actor and producer based in the U.S), director Sohanlal, an African filmmaker (whose name I forgot) among others proved enriching.
It was with a not-so happy heart (because there were 3 more days of the festival to go) and at the same time with a happy heart too (because I was richer now despite having spent money out of my pocket for travelling, accommodation, food etc- richer because I had earned things more valuable than money) that I left Thiruvananthapuram and clambered on to the train to Kochi.
Missing – the cock that crowed at Udaya!
Published November 26, 2009 | There was a time when the cock crowed aloud at Udaya, evidently happy that Malayalam Cinema was free from the clutches of the all-powerful Madras studios.
It was Kunchacko who started Udaya Studios at Alappuzha and dared to free Malayalam Cinema from the clutches of the Madras studios. Yes, Malayalam Cinema had drifted gradually from Modern Studios Salem and Pakshiraja Coimbatore to the studio floors in and around Kodambakkam in Madras (now Chennai) and the Marwari financiers in Madras too had a decisive and rather vicious role to play in the making of Malayalam Cinema. But then, Kunchacko took a big step and Malayalam cinema soon went ‘native’ as movies began to be filmed here, in Alappuzha.
Udaya Studios, which had as its logo a cock crowing atop a revolving globe, ushered in a new era in Malayalam Cinema. Merryland at Thiruvananthapuram followed suit and then Malayalam film-wallahs started shuttling mostly between Alappuzha and Thiruvananthauram.
The main gate of the Udaya Studio, situated beside the NH 47 near Alappuzha had the globe and the cock atop and once drew the attention of every passer-by.
But then, in the course of time, Malayalam cinema and cinema itself came out of the studios and things changed for Udaya and Merryland. Time ticked on, Kunchacko passed away. His mantle was taken over by his son, Boban Kunchacko.
However, Udaya, which produced many a blockbuster, went out of movie production. The bright lights dimmed and the once busy studio floors became dilapidated. The famous cock too vanished, one fine day.
Today, there is a buzz in the industry that the studio may be revived by Kunchacko Boban, Boban Kunchacko’s son and a successful actor. He, it seems, has plans to produce films under the Udaya banner, which he is proud to say, is his legacy.
So will the Udaya cock crow again? Only time can tell.
Mobile phones to be banned in Kerala schools
Published July 9, 2008 | Thiruvananthapuram: Mobile phones have become a necessity than a luxury in the fast paced modern lives of today. But these smart wireless gadgets are playing havoc among youngsters. School kids have access to even the latest mobile phones with all features like camera and MP3 player, which could be misused to take pictures of unsuspecting fellow students.
The state government is planning to ban the use of mobile phones in the Higher Secondary Schools as a precautionary measure to prevent its misuse. Cyber crimes are also on the rise in Kerala and this move would defenitely be a small step in curbing cyber crimes.