Thiruvananthapuram | Veteran music director and lyricist Sreekumaran Thampi on Friday took a swipe at Union Minister Suresh Gopi for not naming him while singing his song "Keralam Keralam" in Parliament.
In a Facebook post, Thampi said he was happy that Gopi spoke about the state being officially recognised as Keralam and sang "Keralam Keralam, Keli kottuyarunna Keralam" in Parliament.
Thampi said Gopi recalled Malayalam literary and musical stalwarts, including M T Vasudevan Nair, Johnson, Vayalar and G Devarajan, and spoke about his interest in literature and music, but did not mention the lyricist of the song he sang.
"He was not ready to mention the name of this servant, Sreekumaran Thampi, who wrote the song 'Keralam Keralam'," Thampi said.
He sarcastically suggested that Gopi might have found his name difficult to pronounce and instead referred to him as "a great poet".
Thampi recalled his association with Gopi's early acting career, suggesting that there may have been reasons why the Union minister avoided mentioning his name.
He recalled that when he produced and directed the 1980 film 'Yuvajanotsavam', starring Mohanlal, he cast Gopi, who was then largely playing minor roles, as the main antagonist.
Thampi said that when Gopi expressed his desire to become a hero, he asked director I V Sasi to cast him as the lead in 'Aksharatthettu', for which Thampi wrote the screenplay, dialogues and songs.
He said Gopi made his debut as a hero in the film, despite Sasi initially considering another young actor who was popular at the time.
Thampi recalled that Gopi's mother called him after watching the film at a theatre in Kollam on its release day and thanked him on behalf of the family.
"I know the truth that one should not expect gratitude from anyone," Thampi said, adding that Union Minister Gopi might have forgotten these things now.
Thampi took a sarcastic swipe at Gopi's memory, saying that he had not forgotten these incidents even at the age of 86 and hoped the minister would recover from his alleged memory problems.
He pointed out that the lines "Bandhuvaaru shathruvaar, bandhanathin novariyum, kilimakale parayoo..." were also written by him.
He sarcastically said it would be good if the Union Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas continued to quote those lines occasionally as well.
