"I would just like to request both of them to go and see the film, and after seeing the film if they still want to make the same comment that will be their right. In any case, I feel that if I have the right to make a film everybody who doesn't agree with the film has the equal right to criticize it. That right can't be taken away from anybody. In the democratic world that we live in, we shouldn't take dissent or disagreement, or criticism as opposition that needs to be shut down. I think we need to have enough openness within ourselves to say, 'Ok, you see the film and talk to me'. I have happy to sit across the table and discuss various aspects of the film that you may agree or disagree with and that is the sign of a healthy democracy... So, I am perfectly ok with their criticism. I just want them to see the film and then criticise. That's all... This conversation will continue and now this particular subject cannot be brushed under the carpet in this country and this will remain in our nation's consciousness. So, in that sense, the film has done pretty well and from the creative point of view and as well from a point of a producer, it's been an extremely satisfying journey."
January 1, 1970
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Kerala_Story