Malayalam cinema superstar Mohanlal, known to lean towards the BJP-RSS, on Sunday apologised for the “distress” caused to his fans by his film L2: Empuraan that the Sangh Parivar has dubbed “anti-Hindu” over its oblique portrayal of the Gujarat riots.
Mohanlal’s comments, which came a day after Empuraan’s makers buckled under pressure and agreed to multiple changes, coincided with a big thumbs-up to the film from Marxist chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
Vijayan, who watched Empuraan on Saturday night, lambasted the “atmosphere of fear being created by the Sangh Parivar” around the film and said “citizen’s freedom of expression” must be protected.
In a Facebook post, Mohanlal, fondly called lalettan (elder brother) by his admirers, wrote: “I have come to know that some of the political and social themes that have come into play in the film Empuraan, the second part of the Lucifer franchise, have caused great distress to many of my loved ones. As an artist, it is my duty to ensure that none of my films harbours hatred towards any political movement, ideology or religious community.”
Mohanlal, close to the saffron establishment, has long been under BJP pressure to openly endorse the party, particularly since fellow superstar Mammootty is in the CPM camp. But he has chosen caution.
He met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2018 to brief him about the social initiatives taken by his trust, ViswaSanthi Foundation, kicking off speculation about being fielded from Thiruvananthapuram in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. But he later ruled out entering politics.
On Saturday, RSS mouthpiece Organiser had accused Mohanlal, 64, of cheating his fans with Empuraan, and castigated director Prithviraj Sukumaran for peddling “anti-Hindu” sentiments. Following this, one of the producers confirmed that 17 scenes would be removed and certain dialogues muted.
Prithviraj on Sunday shared Mohanlal’s post.
There has been speculation on social media that Mohanlal “merely acted” in the film, with the tone set by Prithviraj’s direction and Murali Gopy’s script. But in his FB post, Mohanlal stressed collective responsibility.
“The responsibility lies with all of us behind the film. Therefore, the Empuraan team and I are deeply sorry for the distress caused to my loved ones, and with the realisation that the responsibility lies with all of us behind the film, we have decided together to remove such subjects from the film,” Mohanlal wrote.
Mohanlal underlined his fans’ role in his success. “Over the last four decades, I’ve lived my film career as one of you. Your faith and love are my strength. I believe there is no Mohanlal who is more than that,” he wrote.
The revised version of the film following cuts will hit the screens as early asMonday evening after the Centre directed the Central Board of Film Certification tohurry up, prompting its officials to work on the movieon Sunday.
Vijayan watched Empuraan with his family at Lulu Mall’s PVR Theatre. His Facebook post lavished praise on the film saying it had “elevated the Malayalam film industry to great heights”.
“The movie has references to one of the most brutalgenocides the country has ever witnessed. This has led the Sangh Parivar and itsmasterminds (to see) red,”Vijayan wrote in his Facebook post.
“I’ve realised that it’s not only the BJP and RSS activists who have issued threats against the Empuraan team, but the leaders are also targeting them. Reports state that (the) producers are being forced to re-censor and edit the movie following pressure,” he added.
“This atmosphere of fear being created by the Sangh Parivar is a grave issue. In a democratic milieu, the citizens’ freedom of expression has to be protected.”
Prithviraj wrote a Facebook post saying Empuraan had achieved number one ranking in India, the UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, the UK,Ireland, Germany, Australia and New Zealand, and was number two in NorthAmerica.
