On Monday, a complaint against actor Oviya, director Anita Udeep and the rest of the cast members of the recent Tamil film 90ML was submitted by the Indian National League Party’s State Women’s Wing chief Aarifa Razak to the Chennai City Police Commissioner. In addition to arresting the film’s cast and its director, Aarifa has also called for a ban on the film. An FIR is yet to be registered on this complaint.
Claiming that the film is a disgrace to “Tamil culture”, she also alleges in her petition that films like 90ML instigate rape. “Such films tend to create rapists,” she bizarrely adds.
Remarking that the film’s title is a term used by people who consume alcohol, she wonders how and why the CBFC and the women on its panel allowed such a film to be released.
The letter also adds that the film encourages young women, school and college going students to defy their “cultural values” particularly by consuming alcohol, smoking, swearing and by discussing sex.
90ML is a film directed by Anita Udeep under the pseudonym Azhagiya Asura. With Oviya in the lead, the film also stars Masoom Shankar, Anson Paul, Monisha Ram, Shree Gopika, Bommu Lakshmi and Tej Raj. Actor Silambarasan composed its tunes in addition to doing a cameo towards the end. The film was certified 'A' by the CBFC ahead of its release.
The film opened to a mixed response on March 1 with certain sections of the society (read men) severely critiquing it on social media.
In an interview to TNM, the film’s director had said that while she welcomed criticism on her films, she does not encourage personal comments made on her. “You can hate my film, you can say it is garbage. But you cannot say the filmmaker is garbage. Some of these reviewers have gone on about how it's wrong to show these things, even saying I was in "arai bodhai" (half-drunk) while making the film. This is a personal attack,” she said.
When TNM reached out to Anita for her response to the petition, she declined to comment.
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