A fresh controversy regarding Tamil film Annapurni is gaining momentum on social media. A section of people are upset with some scenes in the film starring Nayanthara in the lead role, believing that it promotes ‘Love Jihad’ and hurts the religious sentiments of Hindus. Amidst all this, Zee Studios also decided to remove the film from Netflix, where it was streaming from December 29 after its theatrical release on December 1. Now, actor Parvathy Thiruvothu has addressed this in an Instagram post. (Also read: Nayanthara’s Annapurnani removed from Netflix after legal trouble and social media backlash; The studio apologized,
Reacting to the studio’s decision to remove the film from Netflix, Parvathy wrote on her IG stories, “A dangerous precedent is being set. Left, right and ‘centre’ will be censored until we are allowed to breathe.” Nayanthara has not yet commented on the controversy.
Some other tweets also echoed this view. “Annapurnani being removed from Netflix is straight up shocking, like I know the state of freedom of expression is bad, but how bad it really is, it’s pathetic. This sets a bad example for the future. If we’re removing movies that hurt groups of people that’s beast,” read one Twitter user’s tweet.
Zee Studios issued an apology to Vishwa Hindu Parishad, saying that the film would be removed from the platform unless it was edited to remove objectionable content. “As co-producers of the film, we have no intention of hurting the religious sentiments of Hindus and Brahmin community and would like to apologize for the inconvenience and hurt caused to the sentiments of the respective communities. (sic)”
In the FIR lodged by a man named Ramesh Solanki at Lokmanya Tilak Marg police station in south Mumbai, he alleged that Annapurnani insults Lord Ram and it was released deliberately to hurt the religious sentiments of Hindus. Solanki also cited some scenes in the film which he says hurt religious sentiments. The complaint refers to the last scene of the film in which a temple priest’s daughter, played by Nayanthara, offers namaz wearing ‘hijab’ before making biryani. In another scene, the character’s friend Farhan, played by Nayanthara, brainwashes her into cutting meat and says that Lord Shri Ram and Maa Sita also ate meat. There is mention of another scene in which Nayanthara does not go to the temple but goes to Farhan’s house for Iftari. In her complaint, Solanki demanded that a First Information Report (FIR) be filed against actor Nayanthara, director Nilesh Krishna and others for hurting religious sentiments and promoting ‘love jihad’.
