Asif Ali defends Manorathangal composer Ramesh Narayan: 'Stop hate campaign against him'

    Asif Ali urged fans and the media to cease their negative comments and clarified that he harbours no ill feelings towards composer Ramesh Narayan.

    Ramesh Narayan and Asif Ali at the Manorathangal trailer launch.

    Ramesh Narayan and Asif Ali at the Manorathangal trailer launch.

    Malayalam actor Asif Ali on Wednesday held a press conference to extend his solidarity with composer Ramesh Narayan, who is facing a lot of heat on social media over his behavior at the Manorathangal trailer launch event .

    Asif Ali requested fans and media to stop making comments against Ramesh Narayan, while claiming that he had no ill-feeling towards the seasoned composer. "I felt that there was a hate campaign against Ramesh Narayan in media and social media. My request is please don't do it," said Asif Ali.

    For the uninitiated, Ramesh Narayan came under heavy fire on social media after he seemingly snubbed Asif Ali. Asif was asked to present a Manorathangal memento to Ramesh, who has composed music for one of the short stories in the upcoming Malayalam anthology, Manorathangal.

    Instead of acknowledging and appreciating Asif, Ramesh looked a bit miffed and summoned senior director Jayarajan Nair to present him the memento. This caused a huge uproar on social media, with fans and other members of the Malayalam film fraternity taking exception to Ramesh's alleged rude behavior with Asif.

    Asif tried to explain the stress that Ramesh was under when he behaved the way he did. "He (Ramesh Narayan) was upset that he was not called on stage, and when someone asked to invite him on stage, his name was mispronounced. So he might have naturally felt some tension. When I went to give the memento, he had some issue with his leg. He was under a lot of problems at the time. And, we would have behaved just like him if we were in his situation. But, it got a lot of focus due to the camera angles. I have no hard feelings about that incident," said Asif.

    Earlier, Ramesh Narayan also held a press conference and sought to apologize to Asif for the misunderstanding.