Tovino Thomas lashes out at religious fanatics for destroying church set of Malayalam film Minnal Murali

Tovino Thomas has lashed out at ‘religious fanatics’ a day after they destroyed a church set that was erected for the shooting of upcoming Malayalam film, Minnal Murali

Actor Tovino Thomas has lashed out at ‘religious fanatics’ a day after they destroyed a church set that was erected for the shooting of upcoming Malayalam film, Minnal Murali. On Sunday, members of Antharashtra Hindu Parishad (AHP) and Bajrang Dal demolished the set as it was close to Adi Sankaracharya mutt in Kalady, Ernakulum. They even claimed responsibility for the vandalism in a social media post.

Here’s the church set that was destroyed.

On Monday, Tovino took to Facebook to share a long post on the incident and lashed out at the religious fanatics. “Minnal Murali’s first schedule at Wayanad had been in progress when the set for the second schedule began construction at Kalady. It was carried out by art director Manu Jagad and team, under special instructions by stunt choreographer Vlad Rimburg.”

Tovino said they had taken proper permissions from the concerned authorities. “And as we were about to start shooting in this set – which was built on a considerable cost, the whole country went into lockdown, following which our shoot was paused, just like all others,” he wrote on his Facebook page.

“It is during this prevailing uncertainty that this contractual set was destroyed by a group of racialists yesterday. The reasons they cite for this unceremonious act are not understood to our senses till now. We’ve heard of movie sets being vandalized by religious fanatics in Northern parts of India. Now, it’s happening to us right here,” he wrote. He further added that the incident has caused “a lot of distress, and even more of anxiety. We have decided to go ahead with the legal proceedings.”

Directed by Basil Joseph, the film also stars Aju Varghese and Harisree Ashokan in key roles. It is being produced by Sophia Paul under the banner of Weekend Blockbusters.

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