Rabari community offended by Parched, director claims receiving threats
Filmmaker Leena Yadav, who is riding high on the critical success of her latest film Parched, has alleged she has received threats over the depiction of a character in the film.
According to Yadav, the Rabari community of Gujarat has taken offence to the Ajay Devgn-produced social drama. They are upset over the clothes worn by actress Tannishtha Chatterjee, as they are the same which women of the community wear. “They have been calling my husband, giving life threats to us. We have been getting obnoxious calls, non-stop saying ‘You don’t know what we can do to you’. After that we put in an application at Oshiwara police station,” Leena claimed.
“Considering the situation right now that we have around us, as a filmmaker I feel scared to even name a character in my film. It is really scary,” she said.
Watch: Trailer of Parched
The filmmaker said she is also worried about a member of the film unit in Gujarat who helped them in creating the dialect and is also now getting life threatening calls.
Leena said the film, starring Radhika Apte, Surveen Chawla among others, is set in a fictitious village, thus bearing no resemblance to any particular community or religion. “It is set in a fictitious village, there are two disclaimers in the movie, one in the beginning and one in the end saying the same. It has got nothing to do with religion, but is about the stories of women,” she said.
The 45-year-old director says people need to “look at the larger issue” rather than nitpick about other things. “People all over the world said it is our film, they related to it, so it is sad that people here are saying it isn’t theirs. They are still stuck on clothes and do not want to look at the larger issue. We need to rise above all of this,” she said.
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