THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Sangh Parivar’s anger over the film “Empuraan” and its director Prithviraj Sukumaran shows no signs of abating.For the past few days, the RSS’s mouthpiece, Organizer, has been stinging articles against Prithviraj, portraying him as a voice for jihadist supporters and anti-India forces.The latest article reiterated that Prithviraj took an anti-India stance in the anti-CAA movement. His brother Inderjeet Sukumaran, who is a well-known actor himself, has also been accused by the magazine of supporting those students who were protesting against the police during the CAA movement.Notwithstanding the Sangh Parivar campaign against Prithviraj, his film is doing extremely well worldwide. According to reports the film has crossed Rs 150 crore worldwide by day four.The RSS and BJP are targeting “Empuraan” for its references to the 2002 Gujarat riots. They have accused the film makers of spreading anti Hindu and anti-India narrative. Supporters of the Sangh Parivar initially opposed Malayalam superstar Mohanlal, but also stated that he was made a pawn by Prithviraj.Mohanlal apologized through a Facebook post on Sunday and expressed regret if anyone’s feelings were hurt by this film. He also announced that the filmmakers have agreed to cut scenes of the film which were objected to.Prithviraj also shared this post of Mohanlal on his page. However, it still seems that the Sangh Parivar is not in the mood to spare him for now. Supporters of the Sangh and BJP have even made outrageous allegations against the actor on social media.Some supporters of the Sangh Parivar went to the extent of claiming that when Prithviraj was shooting for his film Aadujeevitham in Jordan, he had developed links terror outfits like ISIS. They even warned him of NIA probe.Many believe an attempt is being made to portray Prithviraj as a traitor and a supporter of jihad, with links to urban naxals. Prithviraj, 40, known for his outspokenness, acted in over 100 films. Empuraan is the sequel to Lucifer which was Prithvaraj’s diectorial debut film.Meanwhile, Prithviraj’s mother Mallika Sukumaran, who is a well-known film artist herself, has posted on social media in protest against the hate campaign against her son. Prithviraj is being targeted without reason, she said and alleged that a section of people from the film fraternity were behind the entire episode.She thanked Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan who not only went to watch the film in the theatre but also vociferously opposed the Sangh Parivar campaign. It is a matter of great pride that we have a Chief Minister like Pinarayi Vijayan in our state, she said.The supporters of the Left have also jumped into the controversy. Evens were organised by Left youth organisation DYFI to express solidarity with the film and its makers. They took to social media to counter the Sangh Parivar narrative, alleging that the RSS and BJP were eagerly searching for an issue to create Hindu-Muslim tensions in Kerala to gain political and electoral benefits.Kerala’s Education Minister Sivankutty stated that the Sangh Parivar’s conspiracy to communalize Kerala will not succeed and the people of the state will collectively thwart such attempts.
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