Amid Kaali poster row, Leena Manimekalai drops photo showing actors dressed as Lord Shiva, Goddess Parvati smoking

Toronto-based filmmaker Leena Manimekalai has been making headlines for all the wrong reasons. The filmmaker stirred a controversy after she shared a poster from her documentary titled Kaali on her Twitter handle that depicted Goddess Kaali smoking a cigarette, holding a trident in one hand and an LGBTQ flag in the other. The poster did not go down well with netizens who later trended #arrestleenamanimekalai on Twitter and demanded she be arrested for hurting religious sentiments.

Now, amid row over the Kaali poster, Leena Manimekalai on Thursday shared a photo on her Twitter handle that has created a social media uproar yet again.

READ: Kaali poster row: We will not tolerate any insult of our Goddess Kali, says Shivraj Singh Chouhan

In the photo, a man and woman, presumably local actors dressed as Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati, are shown smoking a cigarette. The photograph has attracted mixed reactions from netizens with most stating that the director is 'seeking publicity' and nothing more.

Check out Leena's post below:

Elsewhere…. pic.twitter.com/NGYFETMehj

— Leena Manimekalai (@LeenaManimekali) July 7, 2022

Meanwhile, the Canada-based Aga Khan Museum has said it "deeply regrets" causing offence to members of the Hindu and other faith communities and has removed the presentation of the documentary Kaali, after the Indian mission in Ottawa urged the Canadian authorities to take down all "provocative material" related to the controversial film.

Responding to the uproar on Twitter, the museum said in a statement that it 'deeply regrets' that Kaali had "inadvertently caused offence to members of the Hindu and other faith communities."

"Toronto Metropolitan University brought together works from students of diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds, each student exploring their individual sense of belonging as part of Canadian multiculturalism for the project 'Under the Tent'," it said on Tuesday. "Toronto Metropolitan University's project presentation was hosted once at the Aga Khan Museum on July 2, 2022 in the context of the Museum's mission to foster intercultural understanding and dialogue through the arts," it said. Respect for diverse religious expressions and faith communities forms an integral part of that mission. The presentation is no longer being shown at the Museum, the statement read. "The Museum deeply regrets that one of the 18 short videos from 'Under the Tent' and its accompanying social media post have inadvertently caused offence to members of the Hindu and other faith communities," it added.

The museum response came after the High Commission of India in Ottawa on Monday said that it had received complaints from leaders of the Hindu community in Canada about the 'disrespectful depiction of Hindu Gods' on the poster of the film showcased as part of the 'Under the Tent' project at the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto.

Manimekalai, who was born in Madurai in Tamil Nadu, on Monday said she will continue to use her voice fearlessly till she is alive.

"I have nothing to lose. Till the time I live, I wish to live with a voice that speaks what I believe without fear. If the price for that is my life, it can be given," Manimekalai wrote in a Twitter post in Tamil in response to an article on the controversy.

"The film is about the events during Kaali's strolls through the streets of Toronto city one fine evening. If they watch the movie, they will put the hashtag 'love you Leena Manimekalai' rather than 'Arrest Leena Manimekalai'," she added in reply to another article.

Manimekalai, who made her feature directorial debut with 2021's "Maadathy - An Unfairy Tale", isn't the first filmmaker to find herself in trouble over religious references. In 2017, for instance, filmmaker Sanal Kumar Sasidharan courted controversy over the title of his Malayalam film "Sexy Durga", which explored religious divides in Kerala society. The film was later rechristened "S Durga". Last year, Prime Video's political saga Tandav was at the centre of trouble for a scene depicting Lord Shiva in a college theatre programme. The scene was eventually dropped and the streamer issued an unconditional apology.

(With input from PTI)