- Friday, April 04, 2025
Rajya Sabha MP Vaiko and former Tamil Nadu chief minister O Panneerselvam claim some scenes could stoke enmity between the people of Kerala and Tamil Nadu
By: India Weekly
WHILE Mohanlal-starrer ‘L2: Empuraan’ recently underwent ‘voluntary modifications’ after facing the wrath of Sangh Parivar leaders and its cyber handles, some Tamil Nadu politicians have now raised their objections towards the film.
The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) has endorsed the screening of the movie with the modifications, which includes cuts or changes in 24 scenes related to 2002 Gujarat riots.
The filmmakers are in the final stages of editing and mastering works, after which it will be uploaded to theatres.
Meanwhile, in a new development, Rajya Sabha MP Vaiko, the general secretary of MDMK, has taken offence to a subplot in the film featuring a dam in Nedumpally.
He draws parallel between the fictional Nedumpally dam and the real Mullai Periyar dam, which has been a contentious issue between both the states.
In the movie there is a mention of how the British built the dam after the Travancore King was forced to lease the land for 999 years.
Vaiko has said that such scenes can create discord between people of both states.
He called for a ban of the movie if the controversial scenes and dialogues aren’t edited out.
Joining forces with Vaiko, former Tamil Nadu chief minister O Panneerselvam also wants those scenes removed from the movie.
Panneerselvam represents the district of Theni, which receives water from the Mullai Periyar dam for its livelihood and sustenance.
He said that some farmers from his constituency had complained to him about the ‘misrepresentation of facts’ in “Empuraan”.
With the movie now facing fresh controversy, it remains to be seen how the filmmakers will deal with the new demand.
In the new sanitised version, four scenes showing violence against women during the Gujarat riots have been deleted.
The name of the villain has been changed from ‘Bajrangi’ to Baldev, which has to be re-dubbed in several scenes.
Besides this, the ‘thanks card’ at the beginning of the movie attributed to union minister and actor Suresh Gopi has been removed.
The new version also will not have scenes showing vehicles moving in front of religious structures at four places and several visuals and dialogues of short duration by the villain character in the film.
The scene showing the car with the name board of ‘NIA’ has been removed and an audio with the mention of the agency muted.
The RSS mouthpiece, ‘Organiser,’ had earlier strongly criticised the movie, saying the film is trying to push an age-old anti-Hindu agenda with an alarming bias.
While the ruling CPI(M) leaders in Kerala, chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan and opposition leader in the state Assembly V D Satheesan stood behind the movie, some BJP leaders issued open statements against its director Prithviraj and actor Mohanlal.
Mohanlal later issued a note on Facebook expressing regret and announcing the decision of the film’s makers to modify the scenes that wounded the sentiments of a few people.
Under the Cinematograph Act, 1952 and the Cinematograph (certification) Rules, 2024, filmmakers can voluntarily modify a film after certification, with the CBFC endorsing these changes under Rule 33 of the Cinematograph (certification) Rules, 1983, censor board sources said.
Amid the raging controversy over its content, ‘L2: Empuraan’ is running to packed houses after it was released on March 27.
