Thiruvananthapuram, July 25 : Amid a row as various sections of people, including from the film industry, writing to the Kerala government that Mohanlal should not be invited as the Chief Guest to the annual state film awards, an invite was extended to him Wednesday and he has accepted it.
State Culture and Cinemas Minister A.K. Balan, on behalf of the Kerala government, officially extended the invite and that was accepted by the superstar, said sources in the know of the things.
The awards will be given away on August 8 at a function here.
Balan and the state government got into high gear after half a dozen film centric organisations that matter in the Malayalam film industry expressed their ire that the superstar is being drawn into a needless controversy.
Mohanlal, who last month took over as President of film body Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes (AMMA), first came under fire from the Women in Cinema Collective (WCC) for revoking the suspension of accused actor Dileep's membership of the grouping. Dileep is an accused in the 2017 kidnapping of an actress.
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Vizianagaram: In a devastating incident that has shocked the local community, four children died of asphyxiation on Sunday after accidentally getting locked inside a parked car in Andhra Pradesh’s Dwarapudi village of Vizianagaram rural mandal.
The children, identified as Mangi Uday (8), Burle Charumathi (8), Burle Charishma (6), and Kandi Manaswini (6), were playing in the village when they entered an unattended vehicle to take shelter from the rain. Tragically, the car door locked behind them, trapping them inside without ventilation, as reported by The New Indian Express.
The car had reportedly been left near the Mahila Mandali office by an unidentified individual two days earlier. The vehicle remained unattended, and it is believed the doors were not properly secured, allowing the children to enter unnoticed.
As the children failed to return home by evening, their families began searching for them across the village and surrounding areas. After more than three hours of searching, the children were found unconscious inside the car. The windows were broken in an attempt to rescue them, but all four had already succumbed to asphyxiation due to extreme heat and lack of oxygen inside the vehicle, added the report.
The bodies were rushed to the Government General Hospital (GGH) in Vizianagaram, where doctors confirmed that the cause of death was suffocation.
Local police have launched an investigation to trace the owner of the vehicle.
Vizianagaram MLA Aditi Vijayalaxmi visited the grieving families at the hospital and expressed her condolences. She assured that all necessary assistance would be provided to the families of the deceased children.