Leena Manimekalai, Gods and Demons: When silence becomes the sin

For the past few days, social media in India has been abuzz over a poster! At least half a dozen FIRs have been lodged in various police stations across the country against the filmmaker who put out the poster thinking she was just promoting her film. Even a woman Member of Parliament, known for her straight-talk, who voiced her support is now facing serious charges of hurting religious sentiments of a group of people after she passed a comment at a public event on her impression of Goddess Kaali following outrage over the poster.

The poster in question was posted by Toronto-based, TN-origin filmmaker Leena Manimekalai in which a woman dressed up as Goddess Kaali was smoking a cigarette. The woman decked with jewellery, was wearing a shining crown, holding a trishul in one hand, cigarette in another, a rainbow parade flag in a third hand, besides other objects in two other artificial limbs which aren’t fully available in the images available online as Twitter India has removed the original post following a backlash, allegedly. The poster was released as a promotion for her upcoming performance documentary Kaali, which she believed -- until the poster got out -- would be screened at a local film fest in Canada but has now been cancelled, thanks to the social media outrage.

Police across the country have booked Leena under various sections of the Indian Penal Code including under sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on the grounds of religion and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony) and 295A (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) among others. Trinamool -Congress MP Mahua Moitra who went public with her interpretation of Goddess Kaali as a meat-eater and alcohol-accepter in support of the artiste has also got police booking cases under similar sections.

Trinamool -Congress MP Mahua Moitra who went public with her interpretation of Goddess Kaali as a meat-eater and alcohol-accepter in support of the artiste has also got police booking cases under similar sections.

The flurry of cases filed by police begs the question of whether a person’s action decides if an offence is committed or does the reaction of others decide whether an offence is committed or a constitutional value violated. In this particular case, a young woman in costume is smoking a cigarette. The name ‘Kaali’ mentioned in the poster could very well be the name of a character in the film! How does such a poster ever maliciously outrage religious feelings of anyone?

Several leading actors and actresses have posed as gods, goddesses and done far more outrageous things on screen in the past as their scripts demanded. In the 1993-hit film ‘Uzhaipali’ starring Rajinikanth and Roja, Rajinikanth poses as Lord Shiva for an entire comedy sequence in which he tries to escape from police in Lord Shiva’s costumes doing outrageous things along the way. The scenes never attracted criticism but on the contrary, received applause from the audience. Similarly, Kamal Hassan has also done a similar role in the film Pammal K Sammandam where his character, a stunt man, tries to pose as Lord Shiva after the actor playing that role doesn’t turn up. Again, this scene is also among some of Kamal’s best comedy scenes. So many other actors have performed in a variety of roles posing as gods and goddesses in the past and have only received appreciation.

So, what has changed now? Could it be the cigarette in the mouth of a female character in the poster? If so, for generations, women who have attained a certain age in this country have chewed betel leaves with arecanut and a pinch of tobacco and limestone paste. Is smoking tobacco leaves wrapped in a foil a bigger sin than chewing tobacco these days?

What has changed now? Could it be the cigarette in the mouth of a female character in the poster?

A simple Google search of Goddess Kaali results in images far more gruesome than the one portrayed by the woman in the poster. Some of these images are even available in temples across the country. Why aren’t we outraged by the portrayed violence of our Gods but by their smoking or drinking? Is it okay to project such images as long as people do not get outraged?

One of the arguments that frequently pops up both online and offline are why are only Hindu Gods and Goddesses shown in bad light? Why not put a cigarette in the mouth of the Prophet or Jesus Christ? To be fair, such activity could provoke similar outrage or worse. But motivated fringe groups acting on their own when their beliefs are hurt is one thing and the government of a country behaving like a fringe group is taking matters to a different, more alarming level.

While it's been a few days now since the poster came out, online protectors of Hindu religion are still advising, cajoling, abusing, and occasionally sympathizing with her while trying to put in better sense, like the ‘good’ teachers in our schools who tried to discipline us when we were children. But Leena appears to be unrelenting and has recently released another Shiva-Parvathi poster in which Parvati draped in red saree with a red garland wrapped around her neck is seen lighting up a beedi while Shiva is a few feet away draped in tiger skin (fake, of course) letting out smoke through his mouth like a puffing steam engine, a beedi on one hand and a trishul on the other, captioned ‘Elsewhere’. As expected, more outrage and more cases followed.

Considering all the that passes off as ‘trending’ in social media only to become news a day or two later, the unreasonable outrage of netizens is hardly surprising. But when the government machinery begins to find an agenda-driven bunch of netizens posting pure vitriol on social media targeting an individual as an activity disturbing communal harmony and begin filing criminal cases against artistes, it is about time for saner people come together and stand up in solidarity as the West Bengal MP did. Even posting just a Tweet or sharing an Instagram story against such irrational reaction by the law enforcement machinery could go a long way in protecting an artiste’s freedom of expression. What could only make matters worse is the silence of normal folks!