The Lady Superstar starrer 'The Goddess of Food' is a Tamil movie releasing on December 1, 2023.
‘The Goddess of Food’ …starring Lady Superstar is a tamil film that released on 1st December 2023 that released to mixed reviews. The film failed at the box office as it collected only 5.7 Crore compared to the estimated 10 crores spent on it. Practically no one knew about the film till it released on December 29th on Netflix and it immediately shot into the Netflix Top 10 and subsequently in NO 1 Position. .
that means Audiences are were obviously loving it. But the fireworks went beyond the netflix platforms. There was a lot of heartburn in the rightwing hindutva groups. Serial litigant and current leader of BJP Mr. Solanki filed a complaint a week later on January 7th stating that it is a film that is against hindu sentiments because it shows a brahmin girl and that too a daughter of a prest who takes on to deciding to eat meat for the sake of her career to become a chef and mentioning that in Ramayana Rama too ate meat. This was followed by a lot of digital media onslaught by right wing groups. On January 11th the producers issued an apology and pulled the film.
I have watched the film before it was pulled and I loved the film. But I understand if someone doesn't agree with the narrative as it is in conflict with what they believe.
The question is will every film that is in conflict with any popular belief be banned. Will there be no space for presenting alternative thoughts? I have no issue if someone criticises the film from their perspective and even makes films completely debunking what's in this film. That will create debate. A healthy Discussion is always good for progress… i would say that’s what we will be teaching our future … in way we have to show the the two sides of the coin and let they take a side … instead of we telling what the narrative or the thinking she be like,… or else we will not be opinions left … but just told what to do or what not to. But saying no one can question what is pushed as pushed as popular belief is not good.
The critics of the film called the director not to understand the Hindu sentiment…. But saying so i feel you are questioning the Hindus themselves who are meat eaters….. They called the male protagonist a muslim and the main female protagonist Nayantara Christian which they are and that can be their personal or herited from parents. They also blamed the director that he is portraying the film as a propaganda film to promote love marriages between hindus and muslims, giving way to allegations that the movie promoted 'love Jihad'... Blaming artists for story content is ridiculous and their personal religious beliefs has got nothing to do with the profession of acting.
The film has been made by Zee Studios. Zee founder Subash chandra who was member of parliament from BJP which is the right wing hindutva party. If anyone … but he also should be appreciated on produving a film like this. But we know that is not going to happen. Their are always scapegoats harassed to create public divide.
This is not just a problem in India. It is extremely common to ban creative art, Theater plays or films in a typical theocratic countries like Pakistan. Even in USA this was a problem. In early twentieth century films exposing ku klux clan was banned in USA because it offended the majority white supremacists. The ruckus of Annapoorni also reminds me about the German film ‘The Enchanted Day’ banned by Hitlers Nazi Germany because it showed two women working … meaning working women who earns …that too in a railway station and this dint go well on the representation of a women in society then.
brands such as tanishq who is known to think out of the box created Ads that showed progressive elements like women remarriage, inter caste marriage, single mothers etc ….but that too didn't go well and huge protests were done and were pulled down …now we dont see those kind of ads. Now love stories between people of different castes or religions are going to go out too….
Netflix and rivals like Amazon and Disney have often been at the receiving end of criticism from hardline religious groups in India, one of the world's biggest streaming markets.
In 2021, Amazon offered a rare apology for some scenes in its series "Tandav", which faced court cases and complaints that it offended Hindus.
What do you think of the situation. Do you think this film has crossed the line. If you were a filmmaker will you in the current scenario now dare to make a film that has anything that potentially can be objected by some major faith be it hindu or muslim or christian.
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