Amid Kaali poster row, filmmaker Ashok Pandit calls for 'hate monger' Leena Manimekalai's arrest

Author and filmmaker Leena Manimekalai landed in legal soup after sharing the poster of her new film Kaali, depictinga woman dressed as Goddess Kali smoking a cigarette. Following the incident, the Delhi Police special cell filed an FIR against the author-filmmaker under Sec 153 A and 295 A of IPC.

The UP police too registered an FIR on charges of criminal conspiracy, offense in place of worship, deliberately hurting religious sentiments, and intention to provoke breach of peace against filmmaker Leena Manimekalai for the disrespectful depiction of Hindu Gods in the film poster Kaali.

Now, Indian filmmaker Ashok Pandit has shared his displeasure over the poster. As per a report in Times Now, he said, "She is a hate monger, she's trying to create unrest in country. She has hurt our sentiments by presenting Kaali Mata like that. She should be arrested; her place is in jail," Pandit said, adding, “Watch her tweets, she has made fun of Lord Rama. She did not spear Prime minister Narendra Modi. She is constant of Hindu dharma, Hindu culture and Hindu faith."

Earlier, reacting to the uproar, the director on her part had said, "I have nothing to lose. I want to be a voice that speaks without fear till it exists. If the price is my life, I will give it."

The filmmaker had, on July 2, shared the poster of her new venture and written, "Super Thrilled to share the launch of my recent film today at Aga Khan Museum. A 6 minute excerpt of the film, ”Kaali” will be shown today as part of Aga Khan Museum’s ”Rhythms of Canada”, a week-long festival celebrating the diverse tapestry of Canadian Culture. Entrance to the event and the Museum’s permanent collection Gallery during the festival is free.”

However, the representative image of Goddess Kali smoking a cigarette while holding the trident in one hand and an LGBTQ flag in another did not go down too well with a huge section of netizens. Netizens soon started trending #ArrestLeenaManimekalai on Twitter.