A Tamil movie, “Annapoorani – The Goddess of Food”, starring Nayanthara is at the center of a heated debate after multiple complaints started to come around it, accusing it of hurting religious sentiments.
Certain scenes in the movie after it was released on Netflix were said to be ‘anti-Hindu’ and the backlash got so big that Netflix has since removed it from its library.
When the movie was initially released in theatres on December 1, it did not generate much of a buzz getting mixed reviews and going under the radar. However, when it was recently put on Netflix, it suddenly came under the scanner regarding some scenes that Hindu groups felt were hurting religious sentiments.
Is It Really Hurting Religious Sentiments?
The story of Annapoorani, the main character played by Nayanthara is not a very unique or groundbreaking one honestly. It tells how Annapoorani, coming from a conservative Brahmin family from Tamil Nadu’s Srirangam has always had a passion for cooking. While her father, a priest is supportive initially but is against her going away to get her degree, as it will lead to her dealing with meat.
However, with support from her friends one of them being a classmate called Farhan she does venture out, cooking and even eating meat to become a full chef and even reaches a cooking competition.
All in all, the story is nothing too drastic or out there, however, the topics of religion and caste coming up across the film have made some displeased with it.
Soon after it came out on Netflix, Ramesh Solanki, founder of the Hindu IT cell, posted on X/Twitter that he had filed a complaint with the Mumbai Police and they had registered an FIR (First Information Report).
https://twitter.com/Rajput_Ramesh/status/1743649980504826294
Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) spokesperson, Shriraj Nair, also posted on X saying “We are strictly warning you @NetflixIndia to immediately withdraw this evil movie of yours or else be ready to face legal consequences and @BajrangDalOrg style action. @ZeeStudios_ (sic).”
Speaking with Times of India, Nair also stated “We raised the objections about two major scenes. One involves the portrayal of Bhagwan Ram, depicting him, Sita, and Lakshma consuming non-vegetarian food. This dialogue was spoken to a Hindu girl to persuade her to cook and eat non-veg food.
The worst part is during a cooking festival, a Muslim character convinces her, and she asks, ‘How do you make such good biryani?’ He replies, ‘The taste improves when you cook it after praying,’ and then she performs namaz before making biryani, implying that it becomes tastier. This is secretly mocking and ridiculing Hindu dharma, which will not be tolerated.”
One of the scenes being called out is this one where Annapoorani’s friend Farhan (Jai) is trying to convince her not to give up her dream and pointing out how in the Ramayana Valmiki wrote that even Lord Ram and Lakshman ate meat when they were in the jungle during their exile.
The character was saying this to insinuate that eating non-vegetarian food does not mean anything wrong and is not a sin.
https://twitter.com/moms_kunafa/status/1745360365679235092
Read More: Watch: Indian Films Which Led To Unrest Over Hurt Religious Sentiments
Another thing being called out in the complaint was how Farhan develops romantic feelings for the main character, and it was termed as Love Jihad. However, as per the movie, their relationship is not confirmed and Annapoorani is shown only having friendly relations with him.
Another scene that created controversy was of Annapoorani putting on a hijab and offering namaz before cooking biryani. However, that scene is only to show the character paying tribute to the person from whom she learned cooking biryani who was Farhan’s mother.
In the movie, Annapoorani is shown talking with her and the mother explains that she offers namaz before cooking to pay respect to her God, and when Annapoorani has to cook the dish she does the same to pay respect to her own mentor in a sense of saying.
A lot of people were against Netflix taking down the movie as they felt it was giving into the bullying and against freedom of expression.
User @gauravsabnis commented “WTF! Annapoorni been taken down even from US Netflix! Mom watched it just a couple of days ago here. It might not feel like it but this is something for a future historian to note as a milestone in Hindu fascism. If that movie can be taken down, nothing is safe from sanghis.”
Image Credits: Google Images
Feature image designed by Saudamini Seth
Sources: The Guardian, Livemint, India Today
Find the blogger: @chirali_08
This post is tagged under: annapoorani, annapoorani ott, annapoorani netflix, annapoorani producer, annapoorani controversy, annapoorani netflix remove, annapoorani nayanthara, nayanthara, nayanthara film, annapoorani fir, annapoorani religious sentiments
Disclaimer: We do not hold any right, copyright over any of the images used, these have been taken from Google. In case of credits or removal, the owner may kindly mail us.
Other Recommendations:
FlippED: Is Bollywood Also Using Hindutva To Promote Movies Now?
