India High Commission Urges Canada To Remove Kaali Movie Poster Showing Goddess Smoking

The Indian High Commission issued a letter on Monday and asked Leena Manimekalai and Canadian authorities to remove "all provocative material" and asked for the removal of the Kaali poster from the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto in the North American nation.

The letter reads, "We have received complaints from leaders of the Hindu community in Canada about the disrespectful depiction of Hindu Gods on the poster of a film showcased as part of the ‘Under the Tent’ project at the Aga Khan Museum, Toronto. Our Consulate General in Toronto has conveyed these concerns to the organizers of the event. We are also informed that several Hindu groups have approached authorities in Canada to take action. We urge the Canadian authorities and the event organizers to withdraw all such provocative material."

The poster of a documentary film that depicts Hindu goddess Kaali smoking a cigarette was shared by Leena Manimekalai on social media. In the poster, one could see a woman dressed in the costume of Goddess Kaali. She is seen smoking a cigarette in the photo. Along with her usual accoutrements of trishul, and sickle, the woman playing the goddess is shown wielding the LGBTQ+ community's pride flag. Here is the post shared by Leena.

Super thrilled to share the launch of my recent film - today at @AgaKhanMuseum as part of its “Rhythms of Canada”
Link: https://t.co/RAQimMt7Ln

I made this performance doc as a cohort of https://t.co/D5ywx1Y7Wu@YorkuAMPD @TorontoMet @YorkUFGS

Feeling pumped with my CREW❤️ pic.twitter.com/L8LDDnctC9

— Leena Manimekalai (@LeenaManimekali) July 2, 2022

After this post, the hashtag #ArrestLeenaManimekalai trended on Twitter. Leena Manimekalai was trolled and some netizens appealed to the higher authorities to take necessary action against the filmmaker for sharing such a post that hurts the sentiments of others.

Some of the netizens are supporting Leena. Speaking at the India Today Conclave East, the All India Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra reacted to the controversy over the movie poster showing Goddess Kaali smoking a cigarette.

"Kaali to me, is a meat-eating, alcohol-accepting goddess. You have the freedom to imagine your goddess. There are some places where whiskey is offered to gods and in some other places it would be blasphemy," Moitra said.

Also Read: Filmmaker Leena Reacts to Backlash, Asks Users to Trend loveyouLeenamanimekalai Hashtag Instead