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Manimekalai's Kaali Poster Row: Indian High Commission In Canada Orders Withdrawal Of Provocative Material
A documentary performance titled Kaali, directed by Leena Manimekalai has a publicity poster depicting the actress, who is shown dressed as Goddess Kaali, smoking a cigarette.
The poster caused a public outrage immediately after surfacing on social media, owing to the actress all decked up as the goddess to look the part, but smoking a cigarette.
A specific section of the netizens has called out the director Leena Manimekalai for the wrongful depiction of the Goddess and expressed anguish as they felt it was an insult to their religion.
Director Leena Manimekalai took to her Twitter and wrote,
"Super
thrilled
to
share
the
launch
of
my
recent
film
-
today
at
@AgaKhanMuseum
as
part
of
its
"Rhythms
of
Canada"
Link:
https://torontomu.ca/cerc-migration/events/2022/07/under-the-tent-launch/
I made this performance doc as a cohort of https://torontomu.ca/cerc-migration/under-the-tent/
@YorkuAMPD
@TorontoMet
@YorkUFGS
Feeling pumped with my CREW❤️,"(sic).
Check out the Twitter post of Leena Manimekalai here,
Super thrilled to share the launch of my recent film - today at @AgaKhanMuseum as part of its “Rhythms of Canada”
— Leena Manimekalai (@LeenaManimekali) July 2, 2022
Link: https://t.co/RAQimMt7Ln
I made this performance doc as a cohort of https://t.co/D5ywx1Y7Wu@YorkuAMPD @TorontoMet @YorkUFGS
Feeling pumped with my CREW❤️ pic.twitter.com/L8LDDnctC9
The controversy surfaced for the sole reason of depicting Goddess Kaali with her accouterments plus a cigarette in her hand. Another feature of the poster is that the goddess is shown holding the LGBTQ+ community's flag AKA pride flag in one of her hands.
A user wrote,
This is blasphemy and hurts Hindu religious sentiment.
— SanksP 🇮🇳🏴 (@SanksP) July 3, 2022
.@AgaKhanMuseum needs to take this down immediately. @MEAIndia @DrSJaishankar @KirenRijiju
Another user wrote, "Why are Hindu gods, goddesses, and articles of faith mocked, ridiculed, demeaned at the altar of 'liberal creativity'? Must Hindus be punished for their tolerance? Aren't Hindus being forced to adopt a more hardline posture?" (sic).
Another user by the name of Chandra Prakash Singh wrote, "Every day H!ndu religion is mocked, Is govt. testing our patience ?? Dear @AmitShah @HMOIndia @PMOIndia @DrSJaishankar @MEAIndia Please don't forget how we were questioned for hurting religious sentiments & needful action must be taken"(sic).
A few angry Twitter users went a step ahead and tagged the Central BJP government, Amit Shah, and others and demanded strict action.
Following the ruckus, the Indian High Commission in Canada directed the respective parties- Canadian authorities and the filmmakers to "withdraw any such provocative material."
Please see a Press Released issued by @HCI_Ottawa @MEAIndia @IndianDiplomacy @PIB_India @DDNewslive @IndiainToronto @cgivancouver pic.twitter.com/DGjQynxYJS
— India in Canada (@HCI_Ottawa) July 4, 2022
They further mentioned that they have received complaints about disrespectful depiction of Indian Goddess in the poster of Tamil origin female filmmaker Leena Manimekalai.
The poster of the documentary presentation was released Under the Tent Project at Aga Khan Museum in Toronto.
