The announcement by the producers, director and mega star Mohan Lal that about 24 scenes have been deleted or muted from the controversial movie Empuraan have given rise to a number of questions, which the concerned persons may find it difficult to answer.
The movie was censored and cleared by a team of censor board members who owe their allegiance to the Sangh Parivar. “They are in the committee only because of their strong links with the RSS. How come they are ignorant about the setting ablaze of the Sabarmati Express at Godhra station which led to the Gujarat riots?” asked P Sujathan, author and veteran scribe.
Interestingly, the movie was not sent for review despite the furor created by the contents. The fact that the production team itself decided to delete the controversial scenes proves that the movie makers were well aware that there were objectionable contents and distortion of storyline,” said A Jayakumar, senior RSS pracharak based in Kerala. Jayakumar was the first person who pointed out the discrepancies which have crept into the move.
Once the movie is censored by the competent committee, it is for the review board which is authorised to make any changes.
“We have not sent the movie for review and we do not have any role in removal of the scenes,” a censor board official told The Pioneer.
Jayakumar said the portrayal of security agencies like Enforcement Directorate, National Investigation Agency, Intelligence Bureau in poor light too antagonised the audience. But Empuraan has something more which do not meet the ordinary eyes.
The movie is yet another prod of the turf war going on in Malayalam movie industry between the Islamists and the Hindus, said a former director general of police who has been observing the happenings from close quarters.
He said director Prithviraj’s credentials are dubious. “He was in the forefront of the agitation against the CAA. It was this man who initiated a campaign claiming that the Lakshadweep islands were being saffronised. In 2021, he wanted to produce a movie on Variankunnathu Ahmed Haji, who is known as the butcher of Malabar. But this mission ended in failure following the crackdown by ED and IB on certain communal outfits.
“Variankunnathu Haji was the leader of the Moplah Riots which claimed the lives of thousands of Hindus in Malappuram district though the same was distorted and projected as part of the independence struggle”, said Prof CI Issac, eminent historian and former member of the ICHR.
The Islamic outfits, especially the Mattancherry Mafia (a cartel of Muslim produders, script writers and artists) have been in the news for quite sometime and the movies like Puzhu, Unda, The Great Indian Kitchen etc are being seen as efforts by them to picturise the Sanatanis and Indian as a whole in poor light.
The latest information is that certain individuals and organisations based in West Asia, especially Iran, Saudi Arabia, Qatar are pumping in millions of dollars into South Indian film world and many high end directors and artists are under their payroll.
The social media posts by Prithviraj’s wife, who was a BBC staff, lampooning the critics of the movie Empuraan further vitiated the atmosphere. His mother, yesteryear heroin Mallika said that the Sangh Parivar was ignorant about the power of her son’s horoscope brought down some more skeletons out of the cupboard.
The movie Satya (2004) starring Prithviraj had to face ire of the audience when it was released. The hero and his mother sought the assistance of the Sangh Parivar for the smooth sailing of the film which resulted in ot becoming a mega hit.
The latest is that the Catholic Bishop Conference of India has become furious because Christian names of individuals and places have been used in negative context and the Church wants such names to be deleted.
Empuraan has succeeded in dividing the moviedom on communal lines. Many movie makers of yesteryears are unanimous in their opinion that the character of the Malayalam films would not be the same after Emburan.
