"My team and I never intended to hurt anyone's sentiments"
Nayanthara has broken her silence on the Annapoorani controversy.
The actress plays the titular role and she hails from a conservative Brahmin family from Tamil Nadu’s Srirangam.
Annapoorani dreams of becoming a chef but she faces challenges as she is torn between her passion and orthodox ideals.
She secretly joins a hotel management course and competes in a cooking competition.
But after making its way onto Netflix, Annapoorani was accused of hurting Hindu sentiments.
An FIR was filed by Ramesh Solanki, founder of the Hindu IT cell.
In his complaint, Solanki highlighted several scenes that were allegedly anti-Hindu.
One scene involved Annapoorani’s friend Farhaan (Jai) convincing her to eat meat, something that is considered a sin in her orthodox family.
Farhaan goes on to say that Lord Ram had also eaten meat and that it is not a sin to eat non-vegetarian food.
Solanki also pointed out a love jihad angle where Farhaan develops feelings for Annapoorani but she considers him a friend.
Their romantic relationship remained unexplored.
Another scene that has caused backlash is when the lead character wears a hijab and offers ‘namaz’ during the cooking competition’s final round.
Following the backlash, Zee Studio stated that they instructed Netflix to remove Annapoorani from the platform until edited.
The letter read: “We are in the process of coordinating with our co-producers M/s Trident Arts to undertake requisite actions to address your concerns in relation to the said film and also with Netflix to immediately remove the film from their platform until edited.”
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Nayanthara has now addressed the controversy, apologising and stating that there was no intention to hurt any sentiments.
In an Instagram post, she said:
“In our sincere attempt to share a positive message, we may have inadvertently caused hurt.
“We did not expect the removal of a censored film, previously showcased in theatres, from the OTT platform.”
“My team and I never intended to hurt anyone’s sentiments and we understand that the gravity of this issue.
“Being someone who wholely believes in God and frequently visits temples across the country, it is the last thing I would intentionally do.
“To those whose feelings we’ve touched, I extend my sincere and heartfelt apologies.
“The intention behind Annapoorani was to uplift and inspire, not to cause distress.
“Over the last two decades, my journey in the film industry has been guided with a singular intention – To spread positivity and foster learning from one another.”
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