Thiruvananthapuram: Following Balachandran Chullikkad’s criticism over poor remuneration he received for delivering a speech at a programme organised by the Kerala Sahitya Akademi, renowned film director and lyricist Sreekumaran Thampi has launched a scathing attack against the literature body for allegedly insulting him through their conduct.

The veteran artist narrated the incident through a Facebook post.

Here’s a detailed version of his social media post

“Since Chullikkad has shared his ordeal, I think it's the appropriate time to share how the Akademi ended up insulting me and my craft in a recent incident. Recently, the secretary of the literature body CP Aboobacker requested me to write a ‘Kerala Song’ which will please Malayalees across the globe. ‘Something’ that can be used over and over again. I initially rejected the ‘offer’ since I don’t share a great ‘rapport’ with the Akademi nor am I indebted to it. The body has never recognised any of my works so far. But after repeated requests I obliged and prepared a song which I thought everyone would love. But for certain reasons, Aboobacker and Akademi president Satchidanandan were not happy with the ‘first draft’ and as per their resquest I reworked and sent the song once again. But all I received was a ‘thank you’ message from Satchidanandan and nothing else. A week after this incident, the Akademi released an ad on channels inviting ‘Kerala Songs’ from poets. Now that pretty much sums it up. I considered this as a big insult to me. But now I am going to release the song on YouTube so that everyone can listen to it, enjoy it and use it according to their wish,” said Thampi in his Facebook post.

Back to back allegations seem to have put the Akademi in a spot of bother.