KERALA'S REEL LIFE HAZARDS

In the past few years, Malayalam cinema has been basking in the praise for its treatment of unusual subjects and themes, but even the big kahunas there probably didn’t see this one coming.

- Rahul Noronha

Empuraan (Overlord), a Rs 180 crore ‘mega act ion thriller’ that released on March 27, has kicked off so much political controversy that less than a week after release, the creators the­ ms elves ‘offered’ to make cuts to smooth things out.

It all started with a superheated online cam­ paign by the right­wing voices who were livid over the movie portraying the ruling BJP government as being responsible for the 2002 Gujarat riots. RSS mouthpiece Organiser singled out the film’s actor­ director­producer Prithvi­ raj for their attack, saying he was the ‘voice of the anti­nationals’ and labelled the film ‘anti­Bharat and anti­Hindu’. Other minor players like Major Ravi, a BJP state vice­president and filmmaker who claimed the Indian Army was upset with the film, predicted that superstar Mohanlal, who plays the lead role, would offer an apology as he was “unaware of the divisive content of the film”.