Photo: Collected
Netflix has removed an Indian film from its platform after it sparked backlash and protest from right wing Hindu groups – the latest in several recent controversies where India’s entertainment industry has caved to religious pressure campaigns.
The film, ‘Annapoorani: the Goddess of Food’, follows a young woman’s journey to become the best chef in India – which included cooking and eating meat, despite protests from her family, members of Hinduism’s highest and traditionally vegetarian caste, the Brahmins.
The movie was released on Netflix on December 29, where it quickly became the streaming platform’s top trending movie in India, according to production studio Zee Entertainment. But less than two weeks later, the film vanished from the site, including its international platforms.
“We removed this film at the request of the licensor,” a Netflix spokesperson confirmed to CNN in a statement Tuesday.
CNN reached out to Zee Entertainment and the film’s director, but did not receive a response by the time of publication.
The film had come under fire from several far-right Hindu groups, with some filing a First Information Report (FIR) – which is required to start an official police investigation – against the film’s director, producer and actors.
The FIR was registered with police under the section “outraging religious feelings” and “promoting enmity between different groups,” according to a copy of the document reviewed by CNN.
India has various anti-hate speech laws designed to keep relations between different communities civil in a country with a long and bloody history of communal and inter-religious violence.
Messenger/Sun Yath
