Film Employees Federation of Kerala on Monday condemned personal attacks on actor-director Prithviraj Sukumaran and actor Mohanlal amid the controversy surrounding their latest release L2: Empuraan.

“We welcome criticism of the film’s form and content without any compromise. It is through constructive criticism that an art form can evolve. However, we would like to say to everyone, irrespective of political or religious affiliations, that criticism should not turn into personal attacks, threats, or slander,” the Malayalam directors’ union said in a statement on Facebook.

“The goal of any meaningful dialogue is not to silence those who stand on the opposite side but to allow them to speak,” reads the translation of the statement shared in Malayalam.

“We stand in solidarity with all the film workers who contributed to Empuraan. As the old man Santiago, a character from Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea, says, ‘You can destroy a man, but you can’t defeat him’. This is precisely what art and artistic communities have always been telling the world,” the statement further read.

Empuraan, directed by actor-filmmaker Prithviraj Sukumaran, has come under scrutiny for its alleged allusions to the Gujarat riots, triggering a massive uproar on social media.

Recently, Mohanlal issued an apology, assuring fans that the film’s production team had decided to remove certain portions that sparked the debate.

“I have learnt that some of the political themes that have emerged in the movie L2: Empuraan, the second part of the Lucifer franchise, have caused a lot of disappointment to many of my fans. As an artist, it is my duty to ensure that none of my movies harbours hatred towards any political movement, idea or religion,” Mohanlal wrote in a post on Facebook.

Director Prithviraj Sukumaran also shared Mohanlal’s post.

Gokulam Gopalan, the film’s producer, had earlier told Manorama Online that the makers had decided on revising the movie. The new version will hit theatres next week. As part of these changes, scenes depicting violence against women and riots will be edited. Additionally, the name of the villain, Baba Bajrangi, will be changed, and certain dialogues will be muted.