It's controversial/ Nayanthara's Annapoorani may get axed from OTT platform after furore over Love-Jihad allegations

A massive protest unfolded outside the Netflix office in Mumbai on Thursday morning. The members of Vishva Hindu Parishad expressed their discontent over controversial dialogues against Lord Ram in the film Annapoorani starring Nayanthara. The protest saw demonstrators raising slogans and demanding the immediate removal of the film from the OTT platform. Following this, the makers issued a statement.

Annapoorani makers issue statement amid massive protests

The focal point of the protestors' discontent revolves around dialogues that allegedly demean Lord Ram that reportedly termed the revered deity as a “meat eater”. Activists were captured on videos waving party flags and calling for a boycott of Nayanthara-starrer Annapoorani.

As tensions escalated, Mumbai Police intervened and detained the activists, ensuring order outside the Netflix office. The protestors were later escorted away from the site. The controversy gained momentum as political leaders joined the issue, accusing the film's makers of disrespecting religious sentiments. The contentious scene in question features a character urging the actress to consume meat, claiming that "Bhagwan Shri Ram was also a meat eater."

Amid the uproar, Zee Studios, one of the producers of Annapoorani, issued a statement addressing the concerns of the protesters. The production house acknowledged the unintended hurt caused to the sentiments of the Hindu and Brahmin communities and assured corrective action.

"We have no intentions as co-producers of the film to hurt religious sentiments of the Hindus and Brahmin community and would like to hereby apologise for the inconvenience caused and hurt caused to the sentiments of the respective communities," the statement read.

Controversial scenes in Annapoorani

A turning point in the movie occurs when the main character (Nayanthara) is assigned to make biryani while competing in a cooking competition. Suddenly a memory from her college days came back to her: a Muslim woman had shared her recipe secret. The woman claims that her food has an exceptional flavour because she performs Namaz before cooking.

The main character responds to this memory by getting a black cloth, donning a hijab, and sitting on the floor to do Namaz before starting to prepare the biryani.

In another scene, the main character's boyfriend Farhan encourages her by citing passages from the Ramayan to support his claim that being a non-vegetarian is not a sin. He recites Sanskrit verses during their conversation, claiming that Valmiki wrote in the Ramayan that Bhagwan Ram, Lakshman, and Mata Sita ate animals when they were hungry during their exile (Vanvas).

The main character is reluctant to cook meat earlier in the video because she is a Hindu pujari's daughter. The lead refuses to cook anything other than vegetarian food in the video, even after Farhan tries to persuade her.