Shalin Maria Lawrence, who identifies herself as a ‘Dalit Christian writer’ and an ‘anti-caste activist’ has once again stoked controversy saying that the first south Indian film that portrayed Muslims as terrorists was Roja and that it was film director Maniratnam who initiated that trend.
She also called the late acclaimed film director K. Balachander a ‘soft sanghi’. Sanghi is a colloquial term used by leftists and Dravidian Stocksists to refer to anyone who is a devout Hindu.
“The first movie in South India which potrayed Muslims as terrorists was ‘Roja’ . Maniratnam started the trend. Roja was an agenda movie produced by Balachander a soft Sanghi.”, Shalin Maria Lawrence said.
She also blamed music composer AR Rahman for working in ‘Islamophobic’ movies made by Maniratnam.
“ARR worked in that and every similar movie made by Mani. Roja, Bombay, Dil se etc.”, she said.
She also went on to convolute and extrapolate her argument to musical maestrao Ilaiyaraaja’s Dalit identity.
She asked “Has anyone who’s questioning Ilayaraja on his work in Thevar Magan posed the same disdain and questions to ARR?”
Kamal Haasan’s blockbuster and critically acclaimed Thevar Magan (Son of Thevar), is a story involving a village chieftain (Sivaji Ganesan), his son (Kamal Haasan) and how a family feud affects the entire village. The movie often earns the wrath of leftists for glorifying casteism involving the Thevar community of Tamil Nadu.
Shalin Maria Lawrence implies that Ilaiyaraaja was attacked for scoring the music for a ‘casteist’ Thevar Magan while AR Rahman doesn’t face flak for scoring music for ‘Islamophobic’ movies.
However, except for the leftist ‘intellectuals’ and ‘activists’, the common populace holds no such views on either Ilaiyaraaja or AR Rahman and are celebrated for their respective works.
Shalin Maria Lawrence on the other hand went on to call AR Rahman a ‘feudal caste Muslim’.
“.. Why did he work in Islamophobic movies? Which created a big impact to muslim lives in TN in the 90s? We left him because he is feudal caste muslim? How Convinient No?”, she said.
The first movie in South India which potrayed Muslims as terrorists was "Roja" . Maniratnam started the trend. Roja was an agenda movie produced by Balachander a soft Sanghi. ARR worked in that and every similar movie made by Mani . Roja ,Bomba ,Dil se etc
— Shalin Maria Lawrence (@TheBluePen25) November 24, 2022
This is not the first time that Shalin Maria Lawrence who claims to be an anti-caste activist has raked up caste over trivial issues.
In October 2022, Shalin Maria Lawrence alleged that her wifi connection stopped working becasuse her ‘Brahmin neighbour’ messed with the cables which was passing through the latter’s house. . She said that since the ‘Brahmin neighbour’ did not want the WiFi connection running through her house she tampered with the cables because of which her internet stopped working. Lawrence further went on to claim that her neighbor’s actions are a “clear violation” of the “SC/ST” protection laws, but she cannot file a case under the Act since she is a ‘Christian Dalit’ who is not covered by it. Her intentions to create a Brahmin-Dalit divide invited the ire of netizens, prompting her to withdraw the tweet.
Imagine wanting to file SC/ST case on a neighbour over Wifi issue. This blatant misuse to settle scores is why it's the most draconian act today.
The actual people who need protection aren't even aware of this act, while the privileged ones abuse it claiming to fight for others. pic.twitter.com/wUCwba7qkZ
— Cogito (@cogitoiam) October 3, 2022
In February 2022, she posted in her Facebook page that religious conversion of Hindus in Tamil Nadu is essential for arresting the growth of BJP in the state.
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