As Netflix Drops Nayanthara Film For ‘Hurting Sentiments’, Internet Divided

The Tamil film ‘Annapoorani: The Goddess of Food’, featuring Nayanthara in the lead role, has been removed from the OTT platform Netflix. The film, which follows a girl from an orthodox Hindu Brahmin family aspiring to become a chef in the face of trials and tribulations, has been accused of hurting religious sentiments.

An FIR was also filed in Maharashtra’s Thane district against Nayanthara and seven others, over allegations that certain scenes in ‘Annapoorani’ have hurt the religious sentiments of Hindus, an official told PTI. The 48-year-old complainant, a resident of Mira-Bhayandar, said the movie also promotes “love jihad”, the report added.

Some of the controversial scenes include Nayanthara’s character offering namaz in a hijab before cooking biryani and a friend allegedly influencing her to cut meat by claiming that Lord Rama and Goddess Sita consumed meat. The movie was also accused of promoting “love jihad”.  

The internet has been divided on the issue. While some have called the film “propaganda”, others have viewed the retraction of the movie by Netflix as a sign of forced censorship.

One user said, “Annapoorani could’ve been named as some other Thamil goddess name who is accepting meat as prasad. And Nayanthara’s character could’ve been written like, she is a vegetarian & hailing from a meat-eating Hindu family, if those changes were there then it may be accepted by the majority.”

#Annapoorani could’ve named as some other Thamil goddess name who is accepting meat as prasad.
And #Nayanthara character could’ve been written like,she is a vegetarian&hailing from meat eating Hindu family,if those changes were there then it may be accepted by majority.

— Sathish (@Think_4_think) January 11, 2024

Actress Parvathy Thiruvothu on Instagram Stories wrote: “A dangerous precedent being set. Censoring left, right and ‘centre’ until we won’t be allowed to breathe.”

So far, actress Nayanthara has not spoken on the issue. Meanwhile, Zee Entertainment, a co-producer of the film, extended a written apology to the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP). In it, the production house explained that it had never intended to hurt religious sentiments. Zee Studios wrote, “We have no intentions as co-producers of the film to hurt the religious sentiments of Hindus and Brahmins community and would like to hereby apologise for the inconvenience caused and hurt caused to the sentiments of the respective communities.”

It further assured the VHP, which is affiliated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), that the film would not be released again until it was edited.

‘Annapoorani: The Goddess of Food’, which released in theatres on December 1, 2023,  began streaming on Netflix on December 29.