Sunday noon broke out for Malayalis with a dreaded message from Mohanlal — the film star they adored and worshipped — expressing regret over the ‘hurt’ that his film L2: Empuraan, released three days ago, had caused them. He promised to remove the ‘offensive’ parts of the film, a decision he said the entire team behind Empuraan had agreed on. A little later, actor-director Prithviraj Sukumaran, who made the film, shared Mohanlal’s statement. By their act of apparent damage control, the two stars left thousands of fans dismayed.
The ‘hurtful’ parts that Mohanlal mentioned were drawn from a historic incident, a pogrom that had taken the lives of thousands in Gujarat, 23 years ago. The filmmakers had said their story was fictional but there was little doubt that the long minutes capturing Hindutva mobs stabbing, killing, raping, and assaulting Muslims were a depiction of the Gujarat riots of 2002.
Those who reacted against the film and its stars were mostly supporters of the right wing – especially the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) – who had allegedly orchestrated the 2002 attacks. They were angry at the film’s ‘vilification’ of Hindus and the Sangh Parivar.
They were also unhappy with the film’s depiction of a train fire killing Hindu women, children, and monks. It was not enough for them, for they wanted the film to show the ‘origin’ of the fire – which they claim was instigated by Muslims – the same justification that they throw at any criticism of the riots.
For two days after the film’s release, social media pages were thronged with opinions and emotional outpourings of affected viewers. Fans of Mohanlal took it upon themselves to assert their new status as ex-fans and declare future boycotts of his movie. Many took solace in putting the blame on Prithviraj, another popular star who took to direction with the first part of Empuraan, titled Lucifer. Planned as a trilogy, the films would star Mohanlal and be written by actor-writer Murali Gopy, while Prithviraj would direct and play a small but crucial role in them.
Lucifer, faulted by some critics, was still a crowd-puller, with Mohanlal pulling off the larger-than-life figure at a time such an image had not been working for him. It placed him as a mysterious figure, a one time legislator called Stephen Nedumpally with strong links to the chief minister who had just died. All the while, he also embodied another powerful identity – that of Khureshi Abram – in foreign lands.
The film appeared to follow the Godfather trope of the unbeatable superhero with dark secrets taking on drug lords and saving the day. Even though Murali Gopy’s script touched on Kerala politics, it had seemed equally disparaging of all parties, while placing trust on a grand old party, akin to the Congress, to take the reins.
The second part of the trilogy was expected to have more of the same material, with enhanced visual effects, as trailers seemed to suggest before the release on March 27. Mohanlal and Prithviraj were giving interview after interview, promoting the film everywhere they went, while divulging little about what to expect.
When the first shows opened on March 27, it must have jolted many fans that a mainstream film featuring their favourite star should be one of the first to go back to the 2002 riots. It may also have come as a pleasant surprise to some that he took on what no big star before him had.
Until now, not only has Mohanlal managed to stay away from aligning with a political party, but has also been careful not to express support for any of them, except by way of campaigning for his actor friends who had joined the fray. Mohanlal has spoken for his co-star Mukesh who represented the Communist Party of India (Marxist), as well as for Ganesh Kumar, who contested for the Left Democratic Party. He has written blog posts supporting the demonetisation campaign of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and lit lamps and clanked plates as Modi had asked, during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Even when there were strong rumours of Mohanlal joining the BJP, he stayed away, while his co-star Suresh Gopi was welcomed into the party and went on to become the saffron party’s first elected parliamentarian from Kerala.
Mohanlal’s close ties with other vocal supporters of the BJP, such as filmmakers Priyadarshan and Major Ravi, also gave him a pro-Sangh image – all the more reason for fans, sympathetic to the right wing, to be appalled by his working in a film that did not hold back in portraying the Gujarat riots. Some even called for a withdrawal of his honorary post as Lieutenant Colonel in the Territorial Army.
Mohanlal is not known to take strong stands. In his tenure as president of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (A.M.M.A.), he had famously made incoherent statements supporting a survivor of brutal sexual assault in the industry, while also expressing hope that his co-actor Dileep, who was accused of the attack, would come out scot-free. In press conferences and interviews, he would be evasive about the pressing issues of the time, be it the Hema Committee report, or the disagreements with the Women in Cinema Collective (WCC).
So when all hell broke loose after Empuraan’s release, it was not entirely surprising that Mohanlal gave in. His apology, though anticipated, was still a blow, not just to fans who expressed disbelief and disappointment at his backtracking, but also politicians of Kerala who voiced support for the film.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who watched the film with his family on Saturday night, expressed solidarity with the artistes and condemned the Sangh Parivar’s attacks on the film, hardly an hour before Mohanlal's apology. “It is not good for a democracy that communalists could destroy a work of art and viciously attack artists simply because they took a stand against communalism and depicted its horror,” Pinarayi Vijayan stated.
Leader of Opposition VD Satheesan pledged to watch the film after the Sangh Parivar called for a boycott. Only the newly elected BJP president of the state, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, went back on his word from a day earlier when he had wished the very best for Empuraan and promised to watch the film. He too got his share of attacks for it before he announced a change of heart and promised not to watch Empuraan. The film has distorted the truth, he alleged.
Funny how a lot of people who take that line did not appear to have a problem with Kerala Story, an out-and-out propaganda film in Hindi that painted the whole state in a bad light, hugely bloating numbers to link the people of Kerala to terrorism. The Central Board of Film Certification was not called into the picture for passing the film, and the makers had to make no cuts after the release, even if it hurt an entire state and its people. The film was vociferous in its attempt to pass off as the ‘real picture’ of Kerala.
In contrast, Empuraan, even as it drew inspiration from real events, came with the disclaimer that it was fictional. Yet, right wing critics questioned the Censor Board for letting the film go without cuts. Interestingly, Censor Board members affiliated to the RSS who had let it go are now facing the heat.
It looks like the cyber bullies only spared Murali Gopy, the writer of the film. He has not made any statements after the film’s release or on the controversy it was dragged into. This is the same writer who had some years ago painted a very critical picture of the Left parties in Kerala, through his film Left Right Left. Not only was the film screened without cuts, but none of the leaders, including Pinarayi who it made out to be a merciless antagonist, spoke against it.
Empuraan too paints the Left as hypocrites who make false claims of secularism, and is equally harsh of the local Congress leaders. But neither party has taken offence and has even gone out of their way to back the film against right wing threats.
The BJP claimed that it had no role in the social media attacks on the film. However, it can not be ignored that the Yuva Morcha – the youth wing of the party – personally attacked Prithviraj, calling him ‘anti-national’, a crowd favourite abuse hurled at critics of the right wing.
A number of commoners also came out in the open with their support of artistic freedom, and expressed their newfound interest in the film after the bout of attacks and threats it received.
Yet, the makers of the film were too quick to fall in line, at first promising to cut down the scenes – as many as 17 by some accounts – and rename the antagonist, in an act of bowing down to the forces that rule the country. And then, they released the notes of regret.
People expressing dismay at Mohanlal’s apology fear that if the big star himself is so afraid of the fascist forces, what hope is there for the rest of them – the less powerful commoner. It also poses a disturbing question to Malayalam cinema: Will fascist forces now have the power to decide how films are made, what narratives they take, and whom they dare to question.
