'Kaali' director Leena Manimekalai reveals threat messages: ‘Film poster not crime. This is’

Filmmaker Leena Manimekalai posted the screenshots of the threats she received online in the wake of the Kaali controversy. "Delhi Police, Lucknow Police, Guwahati Police and etc... you let this guy to attack me and follow me with FIR?" she tweeted.

Published on: Jul 10, 2022, 11:46:57 IST

By HT News Desk | Written by Poulomi Ghosh

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Filmmaker Leena Manimakelai, who is at the centre of controversies over the poster of her film Kaali, posted the screenshots of threat messages that she has been receiving in the wake of the controversy and said this is a crime while what she has done is art. "An actor dressed up as a goddess and smoking for a film is not crime. What BJP's mercenary does is organised crime. I live in a sovereign country and law enforcement here knows what is art," the director wrote.

Leena Manimekalai, embroiled in Kaali controversy, said she is confident that she has the support of more people than the ‘mercenary-oiled bigotry’.

"Thousands of all these threats/abuse/doxxing are getting documented/monitored. BJP is ruling only in few states of India. My govt of Tamilnadu has arrested the fringe who threatened to kill mem," she wrote.

The filmmaker, a student at a Canadian university, is facing several cases in India after the poster of her film Kaali where a woman dressed as Goddess Kaali can be seen smoking invited flak and backlash. The latest of the cases filed against her was on Saturday in Haridwar by the national general secretary of Hindu Yuva Vahini.

A woman Hindu activist 'Athiradhi' Saraswati has been arrested in Coimbatore for issuing a threat to the director. She had released a video issuing threats to the director.

Posting a rape threat that Leena has received, she asked how can the person be 'Hindu', or have 'faith' and can be 'hurt. "He is a rapist! Delhi Police, Lucknow Police, Guwahati Police and etc... you let this guy to attack me and follow me with FIR?"

"I am an artist. I create. Compassion is my language. I wield more power than any slaves of hate. I know, I’ve more people by my side, my art, than this mercenary oiled by bigotry," Leena tweeted.

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