Poster of Kali. Image credit: Twitter handle of Leena Manimekali
A Toronto-based filmmaker from India is facing police investigations and death threats after she shared a poster on Twitter for her documentary depicting the Hindu goddess Kali holding a Pride flag and smoking a cigarette.
Leena Manimekalai, a filmmaker and York University international graduate student shared the poster earlier this month to promote a screening of her film Kaali at the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto.
Heated debate among politicians and religious leaders in India was sparked by this post, including supporters of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Hindutva that seeks to transform India from a secular democracy into an ethnoreligious country.
In less than two weeks, Manimekalai said she and her family have received thousands of hate messages through her social media pages, including rape and death threats.
She wrote on Twitter that she was thrilled to share the launch of her film, which was hosted by Toronto Metropolitan University and presented at the Aga Khan Museum as part of a larger screening of films on multiculturalism.
After the Indian High Commission in Ottawa received complaints from leaders of the Hindu community in Canada he requested the Canadian authorities to take action against the disrespectful depiction of Hindu gods.
Apologizing for the screening of the film, the Aga Khan Museum said that the presentation is “no longer being shown.
Toronto Metropolitan University also distanced itself from Manimekalai
Global Affairs Canada said in a statement that “diplomatic correspondences are confidential” and “Canada will always uphold freedom of expression” when asked if it received any correspondence from the Indian High Commission about the film and poster,
Laura Scaffidi, press secretary for Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez, also responded in a statement: “Threatening to commits acts of violence or rape against someone online is unacceptable and should never happen. We know that what happens online doesn’t stay online.… Canadians want social media companies to do more to fix this.”
Several police cases in various states of India including filing a court case by a lawyer in New Delhi were launched against Manimekalai, according to local reports in India for her depiction of Kali her to stop promoting the poster or videos from the film.
Claiming that she had a right to claim her text, her cultures, her gods, her sexuality, and her knowledge from the fundamentalists, Manimekalai added that the version of Kali in the film is based on the Kali in her southern state of Tamil Nadu, an Indigenous feminist spirit that renounces patriarchy and accepts meat, alcohol, and smokes from villagers.
Embodying Kali herself in the short film Manimekalai wanders the streets of Toronto at night searching for belonging and accepts a cigarette from a man on a park bench, she said that it is her take on multiculturalism in Canada and a celebration of its diversity.
Since the controversy erupted, several Hindu groups have also come out in support of Manimekalai. including U.S.-based Hindus for Human Rights, which issued a statement Monday saying the filmmaker has “every right to explore these [Hindu] traditions through her art.”
Despite the support, Manimekalai said she doesn’t feel safe returning home to India until her legal battles are resolved.
However, she said this experience won’t stop her from making art.
“I will die if I don’t make films I believe in. I will die if I can’t defend my films,” Manimekalai was reported to say.
#TorontoFilmmaker; #Leena Manimekalai #HinduGoddessKali; #PrideFlag
