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The Sena moves again

T K Devasia

Rajiv Anchal. Click for bigger pic!

There is one advantage of targeting a film. The theatres are where crowds gather, the owners are averse to violent protests and, finally, films are always high-profile victims.

But, of course, it could just be hurt feelings that prompted the Shiv Sena's Kerala wing to object to Irshivamsham. The film, made by Rajiv Anchal, suggests that Krishna might not have been an incarnation of Vishnu and that Vishnu himself wasn't above board in his deals. This comes soon after the Sena caused trouble in Bombay over the portrayal of lesbianism in Deepa Mehta's Fire.

The Sainiks are upset with the depiction of Krishna in Irshivamsham. The state Shiv Sena unit has asked the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government at the Centre to stop the "distortion" of Hindu concepts.

The organisation had earlier made a representation to the state government, but the Communist-led government, which was critical of the treatment the Sena meted out to Fire, ignored the complaint and ensured the smooth screening of the film in the state's theatres. The angry Sena now plans an agitation before the theatres where the film is being shown. They also plan to burn effigies of the film's director.

A still from Irshivamsham. Click for bigger pic!

Shiv Sena leader Bhuvanachandran has accused Anchal of denigrating Krishna and Vishnu. Bhuvanachandran says the director had tampered with religious texts, with the ulterior motive of widening the chasm between upper and lower caste Hindus.

"Rajiv Anchal is trying to depict the Brahmins of Kerala as cheats," said Bhuvanachandran. He said there was an impression that the higher castes tortured the Dalits. But it was actually the Dalits who unleashed organised attacks on the RSS, he alleged, adding that the film would cause caste conflicts.

The Shiv Sena leader also feels Anchal has tried to show the Guruvayoor temple, where the main deity is Krishna, in bad light. According to him, by showing Krishnan as a low caste man, the director is trying to suggest that Brahmins have no right to conduct pujas in the temple.

The Sena feels the film gives the impression that gods and goddesses are not above divisions of caste and religion that ordinary mortals feels, says Bhuvanachandran.

Anchal, whose earlier film Guru was nominated for the Oscars, says the charges made against the film are baseless. He says it is true that his film shows Krishna as belonging to a low caste. But everybody knows Krishna was a Yadava, he says. "How can this be termed as blasphemous," he asks.

A still from Guru. Click for bigger pic!

"My film is based on the opinions expressed by great Hindus like Swami Vivekananda. It isn't true that the film is intended to divide the Hindus. Barring the Shiv Sena, no Hindu organisation has made such a charge against my film.

"One major charge against me is I have said that Sri Krishna was not an avatar of Vishnu. But the Shiv Sena forgets that the Bhagavad Gita itself says Krishna was not an avatar of Vishnu."

The director said he will not "succumb" to pressure and will go ahead with the screening of the film. "I consider the Shiv Sena stand against the work of art as an attack on the freedom of an artist's expression," he says. "In fact, I have put Krishna on a higher pedestal. A careful viewing will show that he was like any one of the prophets who came with a specific purpose and was crucified in the process. In my film Krishna has been shown as an avatar who came to ensure the salvation of the people of Kalyug. He sought to do this by rallying the women and the children.

"It is an accepted fact that women and children are the most effective agents of change in any society. Krishna's attempt to get women to act as agents of change has been grossly misinterpreted.

"The statement in several texts that he had 10,008 wives is wrong, as is his affair with Radha. I knew that, while demolishing some of the old myths, the film would stir the Hindu establishment. My attempt is to put the truth as it is.... In fact a good section of Hindus have supported the film," he says.

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