Art & Entertainment

Do Not Feel Safe Anywhere At This Moment: Leena Manimekalai On 'Kaali' Row

The poster of the documentary 'Kaali' by director Leena Manimekalai has created controversy by hurting the religious sentiments of many people. The filmmaker has been facing strong backlash, hate and FIRs.

Leena Manimekalai
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At the centre of a huge storm over her documentary 'Kaali', director Leena Manimekalai on Thursday (July 7) said she does not feel safe "anywhere at this moment".바카라 웹사이트The filmmaker is facing several FIRs following outrage over the poster of 'Kaali'바카라 웹사이트showing the goddess smoking and holding an LGBTQ flag.

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The Poster Of Kaali Instagram

"It feels like the whole nation – that has now deteriorated from the largest democracy to the largest hate machine – wants to censor me. I do not feel safe anywhere at this moment," Manimekalai wrote while tagging The Guardian and sharing an interview she has given to the British newspaper.

Since the controversy began last week, Manimekalai, her family and collaborators have received threats from more than 200,000 accounts online, she said.

The Toronto-based director described the online vitriol as a "grand-scale mass lynching" by right-wing Hindu groups.

In her interview to The Guardian, she dismissed claims that her film is disrespectful to the goddess or to Hinduism. She said she had been raised as a Hindu in Tamil Nadu but is now an atheist.

"In Tamil Nadu, the state I come from, Kaali is believed to be a pagan goddess. She eats meat cooked in goat라이브 바카라 blood, drinks arrack, smokes beedi (cigarettes) and dances wild … that is the Kaali I had embodied for the film," she said.

"I have all rights to take back my culture, traditions and texts from the fundamentalist elements. These trolls have nothing to do with religion or faith," she added.

Two separate FIRs have been registered against Manimekalai in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh. On Wednesday, two additional cases were filed against her in Bhopal and Ratlam.

Manimekalai is not the only one to face police cases following the controversy. FIRs have also been filed against Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra for allegedly hurting religious feelings with her comments about the goddess.

On Monday, when asked about the controversy over the 'Kaali'바카라 웹사이트poster, Moitra said she has every right as "an individual to imagine Goddess Kali as a meat-eating and alcohol-accepting goddess". Every person has the right to worship gods and goddesses in his or her own way, she said.

Twitter has pulled down Manimekalai라이브 바카라 tweet from last week in which she shared the poster of the documentary. It was replaced by a message from Twitter that read, "This Tweet from @LeenaManimekali has been withheld in India in response to a legal demand."

The Aga Khan Museum in Toronto which was supposed to show 'Kaali'바카라 웹사이트at an event expressed regret and has removed the documentary from its list of films being presented.

'Kaali'바카라 웹사이트was showcased as part of the 'Under the Tent' project at the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto.

[With Inputs From PTI]

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