A massive protest was held in Mumbai on Thursday morning outside the office of OTT platform Netflix over the controversial dialogues against Lord Ram in the film Annapoorani, which is streaming on the platform. Members of Vishva Hindu Parishad raised slogans outside the office and demanded that the film be taken down from the platform.
Several videos have surfaced on the internet in which activists can be seen waving their party flags and demanding the boycott of Nayanthara-starrer Annapoorani. The activists were later detained by the Mumbai Police and were made to leave the site.
The controversy began when several political leaders accused the makers of demeaning Lord Ram in the film by showing a character asking the actress to eat meat as "Bhagwan Shri Ram was also a meat eater".
Post the massive uproar, Zee Studios, which is one of the producers of Annapoorani, issued a statement, promising that the scene will be edited and the film will be taken off Netflix until the time the necessary changes were not made.
"We have no intentions as co-producers of the film to hurt religious sentiments of the Hindus and Brahmin community and would like to hereby apologise for the inconvenience caused and hurt caused to the sentiments of the respective communities," the statement read.
Netflix has now taken down the film from their platform.
Police complaints against Annapoorani makers
The controversy first came to light when Shiv Sena leader Ramesh Solanki lodged a police complaint against makers of Annapoorani for hurting the religious sentiments of Hindus. Taking to his X handle, he wrote, "At a time when the whole world is rejoicing in anticipation of the Pran Pratishtha of Bhagwan Shri Ram Mandir, this anti-Hindu film Annapoorani has been released on Netflix, produced by Zee Studios, Naad Sstudios and Trident Arts. 1. A daughter of Hindu Poojari, offers Namaz to cook Biryani. 2. Love Jihad is promoted in this Film. 3. Farhan (Actor) persuades the actress to eat meat saying that Bhagwan Shri Ram was also a meat eater (sic)."
Later, an FIR was filed against the film by Hindu Seva Parishad in Jabalpur for hurting Hindu sentiments and promoting love jihad. The FIR named the actors of the film, as well as the director and the producers.
“Indecent comments have been made on the deity of Hindu religion, Maryada Purushottam Ram and the sentiments of Hindus have been hurt,” they stated.
About Annapoorani
Annapoorani stars Nayanthara in the titular role, and it also features Karthik Kumar, Jai, Sathyaraj and Poornima Ravi in key roles.
The film revolves around the story of a woman, who despite being daughter of a temple cook, goes against the wishes of her family to cook non-vegetarian food to prove her mettle as a chef.
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