Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), a hardline rightwing Hindu group that has ties to the ruling Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) began a protest against the film on Wednesday, accusing of it being “intentionally released to hurt Hindu sentiments”.

VHP’s online campaign against the film quickly gathered pace and it also protested outside the Netflix offices. Members of another fringe rightwing Hindu group then filed police cases against the film’s director, writers and creators.

Indian express reports: Police in Madhya Pradesh’s Jabalpur registered an FIR against Nayanthara and others involved with the film based on a complaint by a group called Hindu Sewa Parishad. A complaint was also filed against the film in Mumbai, but the Mumbai Police said no FIR had been registered yet.

The police complaint in Mumbai was filed by Ramesh Solanki, who identified himself as the founder of a group called Hindu IT Cell.

Senior police inspector Dyaneshwar Wagh of LT Marg police station said, “The complainant has submitted an application at the police station through a third person. We have contacted him and as he is out of station, he has not appeared before us. We are waiting for him to come after which we will record his statement and register a case.”

In his complaint, submitted on January 6, Solanki said “the film demeans Prabhu Shri Ram and is intentionally released to hurt Hindu sentiments”.

The complaint also highlighted some scenes from the film that allegedly hurt religious sentiments and promoted “love jihad”. The “daughter of a temple priest offers namaz wearing a hijab, before making biryani in the last scene of the film”, the complaint read. It also said that the titular character’s friend, Farhan, “brainwashes the actress to cut meat because he says Bhagwan Shri Ram and Maa Sita also ate meat”.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Solanki said: “We are not going to stop here, and we want the censor board to bring in strict laws that protect the sentiments of all religions.”

The FIR registered on Wednesday at Jabalpur’s Omti police station named seven accused, including Nayanthara, director Nilesh Krishnaa, producers Jatin Sethi and R Ravindran, and Netflix India’s content head Monika Shergill, police said.

“The FIR has been registered under sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion…and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the IPC,” Jabalpur city Superintendent of Police Pankaj Mishra said.

The FIR said that the movie was “made to insult Sanatan Dharma” and that it promoted “love jihad”.

By Thursday morning, the makers of the film, Zee entertainment, had released an apology, stating that the film would be withdrawn and re-edited to remove any offensive scenes. It has been removed from all international Netflix platforms.

“We have no intentions as co-producers of the film to hurt the religious sentiments of the Hindus and Brahmins community and would like to hereby apologise for the inconvenience caused and hurt caused to the sentiments of the respective communities,” said Zee Entertainment.

This is not the first time that content on Netflix and other streaming platforms has been on the receiving end of protests and police cases by rightwing Hindu groups, who are playing an increasingly powerful role in governing India’s political and cultural sphere since the BJP government came to power.

In 2021, Amazon faced protests and police cases, and staff had to seek protection from arrest, after rightwing Hindu groups deemed its political series Tandav offensive to religious sentiments. Netflix also faced a boycott over the TV adaptation of Vikram Seth’s novel A Suitable Boy, which was accused of promoting “love jihad”.

Bollywood, India’s largest film industry, has also faced protests from rightwing Hindu groups, and has been accused of growing self-censorship of films relating to politics and religion.

Parvathy Thiruvothu, an Indian actor known for her work in south Indian films, said the removal of Annapoorani from Netflix set a dangerous precedent and accused the industry of “censoring left, right and centre until we won’t be allowed to breathe.”

The director and writer of Annapoorani have yet to comment. The VHP spokesperson Vinod Bansal said the removal of the film was a “victory for all Hindus”.

While VHP and other Hindutva wings stated the removal of Annapoorani as an ‘ethical victory’ over the ‘anti-Hindu’ entertainment zealots; the anti-Hindutva media like New York Times or The Wire went on buzzing on removal of a film hurting the sentiments on millions of Hindus across the globe.

…

__Inputs from The Guardian & Indian Express.