Twitter users target ‘Hindu phobic’ Anurag Basu over Rajkummar Rao’s Ramleela scene in Ludo
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India

Twitter users target ‘Hindu phobic’ Anurag Basu over Rajkummar Rao’s Ramleela scene in Ludo

Social media users cite scene depicting Ram and Ravana's sister Surpanakha in the recently-released dark comedy Ludo, directed by Anurag Basu, and sought I&B ministry action against the film.

Pia Krishnankutty    
A poster of the film Ludo | Twitter | @Dhananjayang

A poster of the film Ludo | Twitter | @Dhananjayang

New Delhi: Social media users have slammed the recently-released dark comedy Ludo for allegedly hurting religious sentiments, labelling director Anurag Basu as “Hindu phobic”. The hashtag #Hinduphobic_AnuragBasu was trending on Twitter Friday with more than 30,000 tweets.

Starring actors Abhishek Bachchan and Rajkummar Rao, the film has been criticised for a ‘Ramleela’ scene that shows Ravana’s sister Surpanakha, played by a sari-clad Rao, tell Ram: “Hey sundar nar, main teri deewani hoon, tu mera Bajirao, main teri Mastani hoon.”

Social media users have called it an “insult” to the “Hindu epic”.

Many have also called for a boycott of the film, and some have asked Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Prakash Javadekar to “take action”.

This comes days after an FIR was registered against Netflix for a kissing scene between a Hindu girl and Muslim man in the series A Suitable Boy. BJP leader and Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Narottam Mishra had sought action against the OTT platform.

On 11 November, the government had announced that all OTT platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Sony LIV, ZEE5, Disney Plus Hotstar and others would be brought under the purview of the information and broadcasting ministry.

Also read: Consensus eludes Netflix, Amazon & others on tweak in self-regulation code sought by govt

‘Ridicule of Hinduism’

Social media users called Ludo to be a “straightforward ridicule of Hinduism” and labelled Basu as a “repeat offender when it comes to hurting Hindu sentiments”.

They hit out at Basu’s earlier work, including 2015 Netflix series Stories by Rabindranath Tagore for a scene where a Hindu girl is shown performing namaz, in an episode of the ‘Kabuliwala’ tale.

Guruprasad Gowda, Karnataka-based coordinator of the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti, said, “We have just seen how a cartoon led to #Parisbehading and worldwide protests. Would Anurag Basu ever show such scenes of other religions and dream of being untouched?”

News publication Kannada Sanatan Prabhat, which describes itself as a “nationalist newspaper striving for establishment of a Hindu Rashtra”, tweeted saying: “After Aamir Khan’s anti-idolatry PK, just to hurt Hindu sentiments #Hinduphobic_AnuragBasu has added such scenes in #Ludo. Time to unite and boycott such movies!”

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