Charlie Chaplin cannot stand in Mangalore. I stand by it, for I do not want him or anyone else’s statue to stand tall on the beach. It does irk me when the reason cited is not any environmental concern but that he was a Christian. What an insult to Chaplin!

For me personally Mangalore and Chaplin are very closely associated. It was in Mangalore that I first learnt to appreciate Chaplin’s works. For over 18 years of my life, Chaplin was nothing much that some person whose black and white films were shown on Doordarshan or someone in the Cherry Blossom ads. I laughed whenever he tripped without trying to understand anything beyond.

At a film appreciation seminar held in Mangalore I learnt to see the satire behind the humour and hear the loud voice of the silent films. I don’t remember anywhere it being mentioned that he was a Christian, or asked to find his Christianity in the films. It is sad that he is being branded on religion.

If at all it is true that the village leaders had no objection about Chaplin being a Christain, and it is a publicity stunt by the film makers, then there is no bigger insult to Chaplin.

Coming back to the issue of erecting a statue on a beach, I am against the idea. It is nothing religious, but purely aesthetic. I would personally do not want a 67 feet tall statue towering over me, when I simply want to gaze at the sea.

Very few beaches are pristine now. As I would call them, there are very few virgin beaches which aren’t maligned by tourism. Being brought up in a coastal town, I think I can more closely associate me with these virgin beaches than any tourist.

More over no one can just land on some beach and make up his mind to put up a statue taller than Gomateshwara. Here again, I have used the reference to the Jain monk’s statue which is the world’s tallest monolith statue only to show the height. There is a law of the land and regulations meant to safe guard the coast.

 The film makers should have sought the permission from the Centre as per the Coastal Regulatory Zone rules. I would personally say leave the beach alone, it is already beautiful.