‘Disappointed’: Kerala BJP chief takes U-turn on Mohanlal’s Empuraan amid ‘17 cuts’ order

Amid the controversy over the depiction of the alleged 2002 Gujarat riots in L2: Empuraan, former Union minister and Kerala BJP chief Rajeev Chandrasekhar has changed his stance on the movie, saying that he is “disappointed” with this type of filmmaking.

The Mohanlal-starrer, directed by Prithviraj Sukumaran, triggered a political slugfest in Kerala, with Hindutva organisations dubbing the film as ‘anti-Hindu’. The BJP Kerala unit, however, decided to distance itself from the controversy and said that the audience can decide their opinions after watching the film.

BJP state general secretary P Sudheer had said that the party will not be affected by any movie, adding that the Sangh Parivar activists have their right to express views.

Meanwhile, Chandrasekhar, had earlier on Thursday acknowledged the Empuraan’s release in a positive manner. Taking to Facebook, he had posted, “Best wishes, Mohanlal, Prithviraj Sukumaran, and team! Look forward to watching and enjoying Empuraan one of these days!”

However, his post was met with a sea of negative comments, with users asking him to ‘watch the movie first’ and then make a statement on it.

Days later, the former union minister has changed his stance on the film. Amid the growing tensions and backlash over the film and with the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) reportedly ordering 17 cuts to the Mohanlal-starrer, Chandrasekhar on Sunday expressed disappointment over the film.

‘Doomed to fail’

In a post on X, the newly minted Kerala BJP chief wrote, “I had watched Lucifer (another Mohanlal-starrer) and had liked it. I had said that I would watch the movie Empuraan when I heard it was a sequel to Lucifer. But now I have come to know that the makers of the movie themselves have made 17 amendments in the movie and that the movie is undergoing re-censorship. I understand that there were topics in the movie that disturbed Mohanlal fans and other viewers.”

He further suggested that a movie should be watched as a movie and not as “history”, adding that any film that tries to build a narrative “by distorting the truth is doomed to fail”.

“So, will I watch this sequel to Lucifer? No. Am I disappointed by this type of moviemaking? Yes,” Chandrasekhar wrote in his X post.

The Congress, on the other hand, has backed the film, praising it as a pan-Indian film and said that hate campaign against Mohanlal, Sukumaran and scriptwriter Murali Gopy over its political content cannot be accepted in any way.

“The same people who advocated freedom of expression for films based on unfounded lies and religious hatred like Kashmiri Files and Kerala Story, have now come out against Empuraan,” said Kerala State Youth Congress president and Palakkad MLA Rahul Mamkoottathil in a Facebook post.