Annapoorani controversy: One of the allegations is that the film promoted 'Love Jihad'.
Actress Nayanthara has apologized days after her film Annapoorani: The Goddess of Food was accused of hurting religious sentiments of Hindus. Nayanthara apologized on Instagram on Thursday, saying that she and her team had no intention of hurting anyone's feelings. Her statement came a few days after a First Information Report (FIR) was registered against the film, alleging that certain scenes in the film hurt the sentiments of Hindus, disrespected Lord Ram and the film's “love interest”. “promoted jihad”. This also happened after the film was removed from OTT platform Netflix.
In her post on Thursday, Nayanthara said: “In our sincere attempt to spread a positive message, we may have inadvertently caused harm. We did not expect a censored film that was previously released in theaters to be removed from the OTT platform. My team.” and I never intended to hurt anyone’s feelings and we understand how serious this issue is. As someone who strongly believes in God and frequently visits temples across the country, this is the last thing I would do intentionally. To those whose feelings we touched, I offer my sincere and heartfelt apologies.”
“The intention behind 'Annapoorni' was to uplift and inspire, not to cause heartache. Over the last two decades, my journey in the film industry has been guided by a single intention: to spread positivity and encourage learning from each other,” Nayanthara added.
Nayanthara plays the lead role in the Tamil film Annapoorani: The Goddess of Food. The film is about a girl from an orthodox Hindu Brahmin family who, despite all the difficulties, aspires to a career as a chef.
The film, which was released in theaters on December 1st, began streaming on Netflix on December 29th. However, he was subsequently removed from the OTT platform following FIRs and allegations that he hurt Hindu sentiments.
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Controversial scenes include Nayanthara's character offering namaz in a hijab before cooking biryani and a friend allegedly influencing her to cut meat by claiming that Lord Rama and Goddess Sita ate meat. The film has also been accused of promoting “love jihad.”
Meanwhile, Zee Entertainment, a co-producer of the film, apologized in writing to the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP). In it, the production house stated that it never intended to hurt religious sentiments. It also assured the VHP, which is affiliated to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), that the film would not be released again until it was edited.