Tovino Thomas On The Kerala Story

Tovino Thomas is one of Kerala’s biggest stars.As his film 2018  on the  devastating Kerala floods  creates  havoc at the Kerala boxoffice, he  takes time off  to  comment on the  Sudipto Sen’s The Kerala  Story.

Says Tovino, “I haven’t seen the film. I have seen the trailer .You know something? I will never deny this conversion happening.  It has happened. But I will forward you  a link where a journalist explains how  exaggerated the numbers.”

Tovino has a problem with the exaggerated numbers in The  Kerala Story. “When you are  making an exaggerated  fictional form of  reality you should  title  it  ‘The Fictional Kerala Story’ not  ‘The Kerala Story’.”

But isn’t cinema by its very nature about exaggeration?

Tovino  explains, “I agree cinema has its exaggerations. But you can’t show  30 as 30,000.I  don’t support any party or ideology. I believe in humanity. We are  living in 2023. I really wish people would stop believing what they are shown, and  start thinking on what they are being  told.”

Tovino is  open to all kinds of cinematic  experiences. “I have no problem with  any  film.  But  I don’t think  audiences should don’t believe  everything they are shown. Buddha once said, ‘You will read and hear a lot of  things. Even I  say a lot of things. Never believe blindly. Think on your own.’ We all have the power  to  evaluate  and  come to conclusions.”