Leena Manimekalai was born in Tamil Nadu’s Madurai and now lives in Toronto.
New Delhi:
Canada-based filmmaker Leena Manimekalai — facing cases in India and threats across social media for a poster of her documentary ‘Kaali’ — has said, “I do not feel safe anywhere at this moment.”
Ms Manimekalai, born in Tamil Nadu’s Madurai and now living in Toronto, tweeted some bits of what she told a news outlet, particularly a portion referencing India’s trajectory over the past few years. “It feels like the whole nation – that has now deteriorated from the largest democracy to the largest hate machine – wants to censor me,” she posted.
The poster that sparked the controversy shows a woman dressed like Goddess Kali and smoking. A rainbow flag used for LGBT solidarity is seen in the background. The tweet that carried that poster has since been removed by Twitter. Cases have been filed against her in several places in India, including Delhi, Assam and Uttar Pradesh, on charges of hurting religious sentiments.
She had earlier said, “I have nothing to lose,” as she faced trolling and complaints were made against her to police and the Home Ministry in India.
“I want to be with a voice that speaks without fear of anything until it is. If the price is my life, I will give it,” she had tweeted in response to social media attacks.
In her interview to The Guardian — parts of which she tweeted — she argues, “In rural Tamil Nadu, the state I come from, Kaali is believed to be a pagan goddess. She eats meat cooked in goat’s blood, drinks arrack, smokes beedi [cigarettes] and dances wild… that is the Kaali I had embodied for the film.”
She describes online threats as a “grand-scale mass lynching” by right-wing Hindu groups. “I have all rights to take back my culture, traditions and texts from the fundamentalist elements,” she says. “These trolls have nothing to do with religion or faith.”
As the row gained traction, the Indian High Commission in Ottawa too had asked the Canadian authorities to withdraw what it described as “disrespectful depiction of Hindu Gods on the poster of a film showcased as part of the ‘Under the Tent’ project at the Agha Khan Museum, Toronto”. The museum later said it “deeply regrets” it and stopped showing the documentary which was part of a set of 18 small videos.
“Toronto Metropolitan University’s project presentation was hosted once at the Aga Khan Museum on July 2, 2022 in the context of the Museum’s mission to foster intercultural understanding and dialogue through the arts,” it said.
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