How Govindan Kutty fell into his own mouth-trap

I don't watch the programme "Students Only" on Kairali for several reasons.

1. The host Govindan Kutty "bullshits" a lot. After introducing the cast and crew of a film, 90% of the time he is talking just crap, particularly when tries to talk on behalf of the filmmakers.

2. Some of his questions are so long and confusing that by the time you get the hang of what he is asking you've lost it.

3. His silly jokes to work up the crowd many a time just don't make it.

4. His obnoxious "Bye-Ya" at the end of the program.

In the most recent episode, "Students Only" involved the makers and cast of the Malayalam film "Neelambari". The story is based on the friendship of two girls and what happens to their relationship when a man walks into their lives and when one of the girls falls in love with him. A topic for a film as this naturally was a sensitive issue and particularly when the the venue of the show was St.Teresa's Women's College, Ernakulam.

After the initial formalities and when the discussions get deeper into the story of the movie Govindankutty resorts to some of his usual ways. This is where I started watching after Jaya asked me watch the college where she had done her under graduation, ironically, B.A in Sociology. In a college where courses both under-graduate and post-graduate courses in Sociology (that includes Psychology) are offered and studied, Govindankutty calls up two girls and asks them a couple of silly questions and concludes .."that's girls". I was wondering how they let him get away with that. He then goes on to distinguish girls and men and how girls don't do things that men do and such. Absolute rubbish. This guy is least qualified to handle such a sensitive topic. All he had to do was host the show. He had no idea of what was coming.

As part of the show students are allowed to ask the film makers questions and a couple of them ask. All the time Govindankutty is also offering his opinions in his usual inimitable style.

Then comes his nemesis. First in the form of Sethulakshmi. The girl in her pleasant demeanor was asking questions and during the conversation Govindankutty is hardly able to give a convincing answer. Then as the conversations go on Govindankutty asks her if she is a "feminist" to which Sethulakshmi politely offered her explanation. I could never find a fault with what she was saying. I was wondering on what grounds he had asked her if she was a "feminist". In fact I wonder why he was resorting to all this when it was duty of the cast or crew to answer those questions. Meanwhile the girls were wildly cheering Seethulakshmi. They were having a blast.

Check out the video below.


The second half of the show was aired the following week and Govindankutty was least prepared for what was coming. This time it was another student, Elsa. According to Elsa she was outside the hall when she was told of Govindankutty's activities and it was obvious in her tone that she was not going to take all this lightly.

It must have been a shocker for Govindankutty because she was clearly on the offensive. I just loved her guts. Elsa asks Govindankutty if he is a "chauvinist" or if he had had unpleasant experiences with other women that prompted him to call Sethulakshmi a feminist. It was obvious she didn't like the way he was treating her friends and she even admits that. I found Elsa's arguments convincing. How can a guy decide what a relationship between two girls is by just asking them a couple of questions.



Though Govindankutty tried initially to calm her with his nonsensical talk he lost his cool completely. What follows was Govindankutty's nightmare having gone totally out of control. The girls were not cheering for him like they normally no matter what he tried to convince them. He even tried winning their favour by asking them if he was right and for which collectively they shouted "No". Instead they were cheering Elsa. His poor English made it worse for him. In fact it was pathetic. The fellow couldn't understand the phrase "Familiarity breeds contempt" and Elsa had to repeat it at least thrice. Even after that when he couldn't understand, she had to explain what it meant in Malayalam. The guy was going bonkers. And when things were going horribly wrong Kairali T.V channel muted several minutes of the performance of our host who by time had gone berserk. I wonder what he was saying in those muted moments.

He then calls Elsa "chechi". I thought he was trying in vain to bring her down and he probably thought this would do it. For me this was limit. Elsa and the girls of the college should have "booed" him and walked out. Just a short while earlier he had confessed his respect and admiration for women and now this? I wish Elsa had demanded an explanation why he called her that.

He then tries his stunt that he did a little earlier, questioning two girls. He calls Elsa's friend and tells the friend to mention her favourite colour discretely to one of the crew on stage. He asks Elsa to do the same to another crew member on stage. He then asks Elsa the colour to test if she knew what her close friend's favourite colour was and vice-versa. Can you imagine! Trying to establish the strength of a girl's friendship by finding out if she knew the favourite colour of her friend. Total kitsch! Elsa's counter reactions and arguments to these actions were also justifiable.

Elsa was truly the star of the show. In the background I could see Sethulakshmi and her friends cheering Elsa and enjoying the spectacle. I am sure the girls who attended the show that day had a memorable day to remember.

Towards the end of the video check out our host cleaning his nose. Doesn't he know he's on T.V?



One final thing. This guy is going to think twice before considering stepping inside St.Teresa's again. He probably never will.

Kudos to Elsa and Sethulakshmi.