‘It seems like entire nation needs to censor me’, says Leena Manimekalai on ‘Kaali’ row

By PTI

NEW DELHI: At the centre of an enormous storm over her documentary Kaali, Leena Manimekalai on Thursday stated she doesn’t really feel protected “anywhere at this moment”.

The filmmaker is going through a number of FIRs following outrage over the poster of Kaali displaying the goddess smoking and holding an LGBTQ flag.

“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 whereas tagging The Guardian and sharing an interview she has given to the British newspaper.

Since the controversy started final week, Manimekalai, her household and collaborators have acquired threats from greater than 200,000 accounts on-line, she stated. The Toronto-based director described the web vitriol as a “grand-scale mass lynching” by right-wing Hindu teams.

BJP payrolled troll military don’t know about how people theatre artists chill put up their performances.This shouldn’t be from my movie.This is from on a regular basis rural India that these sangh parivars wish to destroy with their relentless hate & spiritual bigotry. Hindutva can by no means grow to be India. https://t.co/ZsYkDbfJhK

— Leena Manimekalai (@LeenaManimekali) July 7, 2022

In her interview, she dismissed claims that her movie is disrespectful to the goddess or to Hinduism. She stated she had been raised as a Hindu in Tamil Nadu however 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 goat’s blood, drinks arrack, smokes beedi (cigarettes) and dances wild —  that is the Kaali I had embodied for the film,” she stated.

“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.

“These trolls are after my artistic freedom. If I give away my freedom fearing this mindless rightwing mob mafia, I will give away everyone’s freedom. So I will keep it, come what may.” https://t.co/nD2TNxypOk

— Leena Manimekalai (@LeenaManimekali) July 7, 2022

Two separate FIRs have been registered towards Manimekalai in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh. On Wednesday, two extra circumstances have been filed towards her in Bhopal and Ratlam.

Manimekalai shouldn’t be the one one to face police circumstances following the controversy.

FIRs have additionally been filed towards Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra for allegedly hurting spiritual emotions together with her feedback concerning the goddess.

On Monday, when requested concerning the controversy over the ‘Kaali’ poster, Moitra stated she has each proper as “an individual to imagine Goddess Kali as a meat-eating and alcohol-accepting goddess”.

ALSO READ: Woman Hindu activist arrested for issuing threats to Leena Manimekalai

Every individual has the suitable to worship gods and goddesses in his or her personal manner, she stated.

Twitter has pulled down Manimekalai’s tweet from final week during which she shared the poster of the documentary.

It was changed by a message from Twitter that learn, “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 indicate ‘Kaali’ at an occasion expressed remorse and has eliminated the documentary from its record of movies being introduced.

Kaali was showcased as a part of the ‘Under the Tent’ challenge on the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto.