State functionaries of an Islamic organization are given a special screening of the film Farhana to decide whether it is anti-Islam or not, resulting in others questioning whether they are a constitutional body to do so.
Even as the dust settles on The Kerala Story, a Tamil film has ruffled the feathers of Islamists, with the Islamist Organisation calling for a ban on Tamil Film ‘Farhana’.
Directed by Nelson Venkatesan, Farhana is a thriller film starring Aishwarya Rajesh in the lead role. Producer SR Prabhu and SR Prakash Babu have jointly produced the film under the banner ‘Dream Warrior Pictures’.
The film is about a young married Muslim woman who works as a customer support executive in the corporate world but suddenly gets her life overturned when she unwittingly gets into the phone sex chat industry.
As soon as the teaser of the film was released, some Islamic organizations opposed the film, demanding a ban on the film. At this juncture, a statement was issued by the producer that the film was not made to hurt people of any religion.
Dream Warrior Pictures’s press statement said that it has been functioning with great social responsibility and work ethics. “Our films have spoken about religious harmony, social unity, and love. But the controversies created by a few people about Farhana, which has been duly censored by the government body, has pained us greatly. Farhana is not against any religion or their sentiments,” the company said.
The statement came at a time when several Islamic outfits opposed the movie’s release. Indian National League (INL) party leader ‘Tada’ J Abdul Rahim claimed that the movie was against Islamic beliefs. TADA Rahim said that he lodged a complaint against the movie with the Chennai police commissioner’s office in the second week of May. On April 25 TADA Rahim filed a complaint with the Chennai Police Commissioner to ban Farhana saying that the teaser of the movie depicts a Muslim woman who does sex work across the world wearing a burqa. He urged the police to ban the movie.
In this situation, several theatres that screened the film Farhana, which was released on Friday, were forced to cancel the screenings due to protests from Islamic fundamental organizations.
Meanwhile, due to safety threats, police security has been provided at the residence of actress Aishwarya Rajesh, who played the lead in the film Farhana.
According to reports, the film’s producers attempted to screen the film to a protesting Islamic fundamentalist organization in order to pacify them and sought their approval for further screening.
In this context, Tada J Rahim, the chief of the Indian National League Party, confirmed on Twitter that state and district-level leaders were given a special screening of the film Farhana. He added, “Our functionaries who watched the film said that Farhana is not against Muslims.”
DREAM WARRIORS PICTURES. சார்பாக ஃபர்ஹானா திரைப்பட முன்னோட்ட சிறப்பு காட்சி போட்டு காட்டப்பட்டது
இந்திய தேசிய லீக் கட்சி சார்பாக மாநில மாவட்ட நிர்வாகிகள் கலந்து கொண்டனர்
பர்ஹானா திரைப்படம் முஸ்லீம்களுக்கு எதிரான படம் இல்லை என்று திரைப்படத்தை பார்த்த நமது நிர்வாகிகள் கூறினார்கள் pic.twitter.com/tFz7Wamt7f
— தடா ஜெ ரஹிம் 🇮🇳 (@tadarahim7) May 14, 2023
Several people on social media questioned the authority of these functionaries of Islamic fundamentalist organizations being given a special screening to certify a film that had already been certified by the CBFC. They questioned whether they were an extra-constitutional body with the authority to decide on every film.
Click here to subscribe to The Commune on Telegram and get the best stories of the day delivered to you personally.