The effort by Mohanlal, the reigning superstar of Malayalam film industry, to pacify his hardcore fans by tendering an apology for “discrepancies” that have crept into his latest movie Empuraan (Malayalam for Overlord) has fallen flat if the initial reactions from the Hindu community are any indication.
Mohanlal, who remained incommunicado following the controversy generated by the movie for picturising Godhra train burning and portraying BJP’s most powerful persons in poor light, said in his message posted in the social media that he was sorry if he has hurt the sentiments of his viewers and in days to come would sort out the issue.
“I and my team will work together to rectify mismatches if any are there in the movie,” Mohanlal wrote in his post. It has been decided by the Censor Board to delete 17 scenes from the controversial movie by Monday morning but till then the viewers would get the pleasure of watching uncensored and undiluted Empuraan.
But the Sangh Parivar is not satisfied by the Mohanlal. “It is an attempt to eyewash the lakhs of his fans for donning the role of an anti-national and campaigning for Islamic terrorism,” said Vatayar Sunil senior scribe.
Sunil pointed out that Prithviraj, actor/director, with whom Mohanlal has paired in the movie is a hardcore urban Naxalite and is close to Islamic terrorists based in Kerala. “In April 2022 the narcotics bureau had seized drugs worth crores of rupees from an apartment owned by Prithviraj in Ernakulam. No case has been registered in this regard even after three years,” said Suil.
Claimed as a movie was shot at a budget of `250 crore, Empuraan is being projected as a movie to justify Islamic terrorism. “The distortion of Godhra incident as a handiwork of Hindu fundamentalists was uncalled for. They should have fact checked the details,” said K Gireesh Kumar from UAE told The Pioneer.
The efforts by Mohanlal’s friends in the film world to save the actor from the embarrassment caused by the movie too came a cropper. Major Ravi, who has directed dozen of Mohanlal movies, had said that script writer Murali Gopi and director Prithviraj had altered the script without the concurrence of Mohanlal. But the superstar himself has written that he would work out a plan with his team to resolve the issue.
Mohanlal apologises for Empuraan row
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan who watched the movie late on Saturday night too took to the social media and lambasted the Hindu fundamentalists for terrorising artists and violating freedom of expression assured in the Indian Constitution.
“But where was this Chief Minister when the screening of Kerala Story and Kashmir Files were banned in the State by Islamic groups,”asked P Sujathan, author and former editor in Kerala Kaumudi.
He also said that Prithviraj had a sweet revenge over the Hindus in the state for sabotaging his mission to make a movie on Variyankunnath Ahmed Haji, known as the “butcher of Malabar”for his role in the annihilation of thousands of Hindus in the 1920 Moplah Rebellion which the secularists adore as part of Indian independence movement. Prithviraj had to make a retreat from the project following the resistance by the Sangh Parivar and he along with the Mattancherry Mafia (a cartel of exclusive Muslim film producers) struck back this time with Empuraan, according to Sujathan.
