‘Annapoorani’: Netflix removes Indian film after backlash from Hindu right-wing groups

New Delhi
CNN
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Netflix has removed an Indian film from its platform that sparked backlash and protests from right-wing Hindu groups. This is the latest of several recent controversies in which the Indian entertainment industry has succumbed to religious pressure campaigns.

The film Annapoorani: Goddess of Food follows the journey of a young woman to become India’s best chef, which includes the Brahmans, Hinduism’s highest and traditionally vegetarian caste. This included cooking and eating meat, despite objections from family members.

The film was released on Netflix on December 29 and quickly became the streaming platform’s top trending film in India, according to production studio Zee Entertainment. However, in less than two weeks, the film disappeared from sites including international platforms.

“At the request of our licensor, we have removed this film,” a Netflix spokesperson confirmed to CNN in a statement on Tuesday.

CNN reached out to Zee Entertainment and the film’s director, but did not receive a response in time for publication.

The film has received criticism from several far-right Hindu groups, some of whom have filed First Information Reports (FIRs) against the film’s director, producers, and actors, which is necessary to initiate an official police investigation. .

An FIR was registered by police on charges of “outraging religious sentiments” and “promoting enmity between different groups”, according to a copy of the document reviewed by CNN.

India has a range of anti-hate speech laws aimed at keeping relations between different communities civil in a country with a long and bloody history of communal and religious violence.

In recent years, Hindu nationalist groups have become increasingly adept at using these laws and the threat of investigations to stage protests and remove content from art and media deemed offensive. There is.

Ramesh N. Solanki, founder and president of Hindu IT Cell, an organization that vows to take legal action against any content that “defames” Hinduism, said on January 6 that the film was “defamatory” of Hinduism. He told CNN that he had written a complaint to the police saying that the video was intentionally published to hurt people of faith. Emotions. ”

The main complaint, he said, was that the film showed a “Brahmin man’s daughter” eating meat and said that Ram, a worshiped deity, would eat meat. Ta.

Sriraj Nar, a spokesperson for another group, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), said the film had “hurt the religious sentiments of Hindus and Brahmins in India” and that Netflix and Zee Entertainment had He said he sent letters of complaint to both on January 9.

Another VHP spokesperson claimed that Zee Entertainment shared an image of the letter on X (formerly Twitter) later that day and apologized. In a letter, the studio said it was coordinating with co-producers to take steps such as removing the film from Netflix “until[editing]is complete.”

CNN cannot confirm the authenticity of the letter and has contacted Zee Entertainment for comment.

India has been a big part of Netflix’s expansion into Asia, with the company pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into the market in recent years and adding a Hindi language option to its platform in 2020 to reach more Indian users.

But as Netflix and other streaming platforms have discovered, navigating India’s media landscape can be difficult, especially as the rifts between the country’s religious groups have deepened in recent years.

In 2020, Netflix faced calls for a boycott in India over a scene in its series “A Fit Boy” depicting a young Hindu woman being kissed by a Muslim man in a Hindu temple. The complexities of interfaith relations in India are at the heart of the seminal novel by Indian author Vikram Seth that was adapted into the show.

But the kiss nevertheless angered many viewers, including members of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist party, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The incident, as well as the ongoing controversy surrounding ‘Anna Polani’, led to police charges against Netflix executives.

A year later, Amazon’s new Prime Video series “Tandav” came under similar fire, with Indian politicians filing complaints with police and regulators over its depiction of some Hindu deities. Amazon and the show’s creators issued an apology.

The controversy also exacerbates long-simmering fears among filmmakers and creators about censorship.

Indian filmmakers have faced censorship for decades for reasons ranging from religious objections to accusations that their plots are “obscene” or “immoral.”

Streaming content has broken the mold as it was unregulated until recently by the government, but in 2020 authorities announced new rules to regulate streaming services and online content.

These vaguely worded new rules have troubled filmmakers, pointing to a wide range of themes that have already been the subject of complaints and anger.

There are similar concerns over censorship and press freedom among the media, with the government using emergency powers in January last year to ban the release of a documentary about Mr. ‘s office was searched.