Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, July 7: Filmmaker Leena Manimekalai has reacted to the harsh criticism she has received over the movie Kaali’s poster, which shows the goddess smoking a cigarette, by telling her enemies that ‘Hindutva can never become India.’
Manimekalai tweeted a picture of two persons smoking while decked out as Lord Shiva and a Hindu goddess earlier in the day. The image is eerily similar to the contentious picture on the Kaali poster.
She returned to Twitter to clarify that the image was not a still from her documentary film but rather a snapshot of everyday life in rural India as the backlash against her increased as a result of the tweet.
“BJP payrolled troll army have no idea about how folk theatre artists chill post their performances.This is not from my film. This is from everyday rural India that these sangh parivars want to destroy with their relentless hate & religious bigotry. Hindutva can never become India,” she tweeted.
BJP payrolled troll army have no idea about how folk theatre artists chill post their performances.This is not from my film.This is from everyday rural India that these sangh parivars want to destroy with their relentless hate & religious bigotry. Hindutva can never become India. https://t.co/ZsYkDbfJhK
— Leena Manimekalai (@LeenaManimekali) July 7, 2022
Leena Manimekalai has found herself in the centre of controversy with the unveiling of the poster for her documentary Kaali. Political parties swiftly joined the controversy over the poster, which depicts Goddess Kaali smoking and brandishing an LGBTQ pride flag.